PCTO
by Silent Magi
Summary: Beacon Academy is a great and wonderful place; as Ruby and Yang are about to learn not everything wonderful is perfect. Now they have to try and keep the secret of magic, defend the world from transdimensional beings, and keep up with their studies. Should be easy right?
1. Humili

Ruby fairly bounced in her seat as she watched the ship draw nearer to the island that would be her new home for the next four years. Her feet bounced eagerly as Yang just gave her a proud little grin. When her sister had told her that she was enrolling into Beacon Academy, one of the most internationally recognized and sought after universities on the planet, Ruby knew she had to enroll.

Even two years Yang's junior, she had been able to keep up with her sister with ease, graduating from homeschooling the same year as her older sister. Now they were both on their way to their future. "I can't wait Yang! Look you can see the track over there, and there's the library!" she gushed as she found herself unable to keep quiet any longer. This was so awesome, and she had four, or more, years to enjoy it all without her Dad around to embarrass her and Yang. And she got to spend it with Yang! How cool was that?

"Yes Ruby," Yang answered with a bemused smirk as she watched how eager her kid sister was to go to school. She had always been the eager one for new books and learning, while Yang preferred to move about. She had gotten a partial scholarship, just like Ruby, but hers was so she could be on the school's mixed martial arts team. She liked to hit things, it was a thing she did.

Looking out the porthole, she reached down and picked up a half of a sandwich that had been left over from lunch. "Just remember what Dad said."

"I know…" Ruby grumped as her sister brought her crashing back to reality. After a quick glance around to ensure that they were still alone, she rolled her eyes. "Don't let anyone know about magic… come on, I'm not stupid."

Stupid was not something that Ruby was, but she was sometimes careless about using magic at inappropriate times; they had nearly had to move five times in the last year alone because of it. Whether it was to get a poor animal out of trouble, or running through town because she was late for something she wanted to do, magic seemed to be reflexive as breathing for the silver eyed girl. Yang simply shook her head as she reached over and patted the pouting girl on her head. "Hey, who knows? Maybe you'll make some friends and even get a pactio partner."

"Why would I need friends? I have you," Ruby asked in earnest confusion, reminding Yang of just how isolated they both had been growing up. It was true that for most of their lives, they had only had each other, but due to sports, Yang had been able to socialize with others, while Ruby retreated from such opportunities. "Besides unless you know how to make the ritual circle there's no chance of us making Pactios here."

"I know, just be careful. Alright?" Yang requested, putting her hand on Ruby's and giving it a gentle squeeze. She sighed and gave her kid sister a hopeless smile, one full of warmth and support. "I'm here for you, but you need to be your own awesome self, the others will like you as much as I do."

Ruby gave her a confused expression. She didn't need others, her sister was still here, she was her best friend, and nothing would ever change that. Before she could respond, a pair of soft buzzing noises brought their attentions to their hips. Their S.C.R.O.L.L.S.'s were going off, and that meant that that they were getting a message. Pulling it out, the pair frowned as they recognized the address of the sender. It was the magic council near where their old home town had been, which could only mean one thing. "They just sent our assignments, didn't they?" Ruby asked, even as the subject came into view on the external display confirming it. Letting out a groan, she opened the device properly and began scrolling through the longwinded official jargon to find out what she was supposed to do.

It was an old tradition in the magical community that the recent graduates to adulthood took up positions in service of their community for a few years, often continuing on with it even after the minimum terms were up. It was a steady income, and paid better than most starting wages. The main reason for the delay in their assignment was that the council needed to make arrangements with whoever ran the show around the Beacon Academy. Hopefully they got to do something together, it would be for the best in Ruby's mind.

"Sweet! I got Portal Patrol and Grimm Management!" Yang crowed happily as she pumped her arm in excitement. It wasn't the easiest of jobs, but it meant a lot of excitement, good pay, and a chance to do a lot of good. Essentially it was walking around nexus points in the Ley Lines to find any creatures from another world, called Grimm that slipped through and eliminate them.

Ruby smiled at her sister, and then froze as she saw her assignment. She hadn't been assigned with her sister. As the Scrolls slipped out of her suddenly limp hand, she could only stare helplessly ahead as Yang caught it and read the assignment out loud for her. "Hey, Ward Monitoring Maintenance and Reinforcement's pretty cool too…" the elder tried to cheer up her sister, even as it sounded hollow to her own ears. It was perhaps one of the most boring, and tedious jobs to hand out. But it was also one of the safest, since you were at the heart of any protective barrier being maintained, perfect for a magic user that was two years younger than any of her fellow graduated magic users.

Ruby stared blankly at the wall ahead of her, her world seeming to shrink in on her as she wondered who she had pissed off to get this assignment. She had always been top marks for combat, knew more spells than her sister, and had a pretty good reserve of power. She should have been a shoe-in for PPGM, not WMMR. Worst yet, it meant that she wasn't with Yang!

Ruby let out a whine as her mind finally caught up with the situation. "Yaaaang, what did I do wrong? We're such a good team, why would they separate us?" she asked her sister, tears in the corners of her eyes as her arms wrapped around her sister. "I don't wanna be WMMR! I don't know anyone there!"

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down," the blonde tried to calm her down, patting her back. She had known that this was going to happen someday, "It'll be alright, you'll see… just be yourself and they're going to think you're the bees' knees!"

"I don't wanna be bees' knees! I want normal knees!" Ruby whined petulantly as she slumped down against her sister. This was going to suck, wasn't it?

What neither sister realized was that they were not as alone as they thought; in the darkness a set of gleaming eyes watched them. It would seem that all was going according to plan; soon the sisters would know just what fate had in store for them. But that would have to wait, especially since the scene was being interrupted by a blonde, scrawny looking boy rushing in, searching desperately as his face turned greener by the second. The sisters barely had time to react, when he snatched up the wastebasket beside the door and emptied the contents of his stomach into it.

The sisters looked at each other as the guy slumped down to the ground, looking the picture of abject misery. Yang turned to her sister and motioned for her to try and help him, which the raven haired girl with crimson tips indicated that she had no clue as to what she was supposed to do. The option was taken out of her control as she was pushed towards the boy. "You alright?" she asked lamely, knowing that there was no possible way that he would be, but it did provide her a possible escape. "Want me to go get the ship's doctor?"

"No, I just got some medicine and was heading back to my cabin… I think it should start taking effect soon, sorry," he offered miserably as he waved off the offer to get the doctor, before leveraging himself up off the ground again. "Look, I'm going to take this can and head back to the med bay… Sorry to intrude…"

"Wait, let me help you there," Yang offered, bumping into Ruby even as the spell was trying to cast formed on her lips. Looking over her shoulder, she gave the dark haired girl a look of warning; it was almost like she was upset that Ruby was going to use magic to help someone. It was at that moment that she realized that she was in trouble for going to magic, when it was supposed to be a SECRET. "Come on buddy, let's go."

As they left, Ruby slumped down onto the seat she'd been watching the ocean from and leaned against the wall. This was going to be a long year it seemed. Closing her eyes, she decided to just try and get a bit of rest in before they arrived at the island.

In another part of the ship, a young woman was glaring at the screen before her with a certain amount of disdain. Almost like the device itself had personally insulted her, instead of just being a conveyance for her greatest source of annoyance. Sighing, she schooled her features and put on a pleasant, congenial smile before reaching out to press the dial button. She had promised to call her father before arriving at the school, but she knew that it was going to be a rather aggravating conversation.

"Gelb Schnee's office," a friendly voice chirped from the computer speakers as a woman that could only be two years her own elder came into view. "Oh, Miss Weiss, your father has been expecting your call. Allow me to connect you."

"Thank you Grau," Weiss offered to the young woman. She had always been nice and polite with her since taking over the position of secretary for her father. It was amazing that her positive attitude had serviced for so long under the iron fist of her father, and that more than anything had earned the young woman's respect. If she was still around when she took over the company and began work on reworking their business practices, she would have to ensure that Grau was put into a position she could talk with her regularly.

Watching the Schnee company logo spinning on the screen she found herself reflecting on just how disgusted she was reading some of the business practices the company used. But before she could focus on it enough that her smile would slip, the image of her father replaced the logo with his stern scowl. "Hello Daughter, according to the schedule your ship should arrive in port for Beacon momentarily. I take it you have not chosen the option to take a position within the company instead?" the man stated sharply.

Weiss took a calming breath before answering, knowing that any weakness would allow him to walk over her wishes to escape his control for even a little while. "No Father, it is merely to report that I am to arrive at the academy within the hour, and the… package you asked me to deliver to the headmaster is still secure in my luggage."

"Acceptable, I expect that you will submit to me monthly reports regarding your scholastic progress, possible social and business contacts you make within the school, and any other pertinent information you wish to share with me," the man stated, as if she was just another subordinate for him to order around. The tone caused her back to stiffen, and she could feel the scar over her left eye twitch, knowing he would see it and being unable to prevent it.

She nodded her head in agreement, hoping to cover the slip in control with a larger motion. She hated talking to this man, and just wanted to get it over with. "Of course Father, as we agreed upon when you accepted my enrollment at Beacon," Weiss answered evenly, the artful bit of negotiation to get her college choice approved was a major victory for her, as she had gone out of her way to ensure that he had as little control over her acceptance as possible. Sending out message through private mail, saving up her allowance for years to pay the tuition costs, and even secretly contacting her sister to help when that was just shy of her goal.

"Very well, I shall be in contact," Gelb stated with a grunt of dismissal before the signal was disconnected. She still had her allowance from him, but otherwise she was mostly independent, and if she found a way to gain employment she might even be able to sever that string for him to pull. Closing her eyes she fought down the emptiness talking with the man she knew as Father always left in her, and decided she needed to talk to someone a bit warmer before dealing with others.

Pulling out a small slip of paper, she typed in the private number for her sister, hoping that she wouldn't be busy with military duties. Her sister had gotten a private device that allowed for her to video conference with Weiss that her father couldn't control, and it had been among the only thing that Weiss had since her leaving that kept her sane, and allowed for her to make the secret plans to attend Beacon. Winter had been her rock, and now she just wanted to let her know she was safely almost at the academy.

As the ringing sounded from the speakers, she smoothed out her dress, hoping to provide her sister with her best possible self. After all, Winter had always been proper and classy, it was the least that Weiss could do for the woman that had given her so much help and confidence. The video switched to show Winter, looking as crisp as always. Her uniform was smooth and clean, her hair was up in a tidy high bun, and her natural beauty shone through as she slipped into a smile. "Hello Weiss. How are you?"

Those five words warmed her heart in a way that she couldn't explain to anyone. It made her actually feel like someone cared for her. Giving her best smile to her sister, she answered, "I'm good, thank you. We're about an hour from the academy and I just finished talking with Father."

Winter gave a shake of her head with a tiny, bitter laugh. "I suppose that could not have been much fun, could it? Do you need anything?"

"No… it was not," Weiss replied, her eyes looking down at her still trembling hands. "He just… never mind, it's not important. I don't need anything, but… Do you think you could visit me on leave sometime? It's been ages since we had a chance to meet face to face."

"We'll see, I have some leave saved up that I might just spend on a little trip to Beacon," Winter answered with a coy little smile, one that had Weiss grinning ear to ear. The news that they might be seeing each other in the future had all but erased the coldness of their father from her memory. "Sorry to cut this short but, I have to report in soon."

"Oh no, I understand, I just wanted to let you know I was safe. I will call you as soon as I can," Weiss offered, reaching out to hang up, when her sister's voice stopped her.

"Before I go… if anything strange happens, and you cannot contact me, or it is too immediate to wait, find a Professor Peter Port. He is a… friend… of mine I met in the military. He is a good man, and will be watching out for you as best as he is able."

Weiss initially found herself concerned that her sister was worried about anything at Beacon, she had thought it was a safe location, but that soon melted into a small smile as the comfort of knowing she was watching out for her even now relieved that concern. "I will, thank you," Weiss answered softly, feeling very happy that her sister was showing her more care from hundreds of miles away than their father had in the same mansion. "Have a good day Winter."

"Be safe Weiss, I love you," her sister told her just before the connection was cut, and a solid black screen mirrored the reflection of her brilliant smile and fierce blush back to her. She turned away, trying to regain her composure, before heading back to her cabin to prepare for arrival. Once she had herself back under control, she let out the breath she had not known she was holding and picked up the small case her father had insisted she take to Headmaster Ozpin. Standing up, she looked back at the blank screen and gave it a friendly little smile before saying four final words.

"I love you too."

Walking out of the communications suite, she let out a contented sigh as the fresh sea breeze blew through her long hair. Closing her eyes, she let it wash over her and relieve the last of her stress from dealing with her father that wasn't removed by her sister's warmth. It felt like a fresh start, and that was all she wanted right now.

She was not the only one that wanted a fresh start, high up on top of the bridge, a young woman stretched out, with one hand cradling her stomach as she winced. The bruising there would still be tender for another couple days, but she was free from him now. Taking a short breath, she stretched out on the rooftop and let the sun's warmth wash over her. Her feline ears twitched at the sound of the waves lapping at the sides of the ship, reminding her why she was up this high to begin with. Aside from that, it was quiet here, and she had plenty of time to indulge in her favorite past time. Reading.

She was currently working through "Ninja's of Love", carefully hidden under a cover for Don Quixote she was able to enjoy the erotica without being judged for it. It had taken a lot of work, a large student loan, and one final confrontation before she left with only a box of books, a bag of clothes, several new bruises, and a feeling of victory over her past.

She wished that she had at least had a chance to visit her mother's grave before she had to catch the boat to the island, but her fight with Adam had left her too sore and tired to make it out to the graveyard. She didn't know where her father had run off to, and to be honest, he could go fuck himself. It had been her mother and herself for so long, that she couldn't even remember the man, but her mother had told her that he had been a good and loving man before he vanished. When she had died, Blake blamed him for not being there to provide for her while she was sick.

After her death, she had moved in with Adam, who had been a child hood friend a couple years older. When she turned sixteen, he asked her to start dating him. When she turned seventeen, he started getting jealous of her, stopped her from hanging out with other friends, and then the hitting started. It was also the year he had taken control of the White Fang, and promoted her to his second in command.

She hated every moment of the new regime under his command.

The White Fang had once been a peaceful political entity to enact equality and change for the faunus, but under his command they turned violent, savage, and seemed to only care about causing pain and suffering to humans. She felt sick thinking about what she had done, and worse thinking about the atrocities she had seen occur at the hands of other White Fang members. It was true that the Schnee Conglomerate used faunus as slave labor in their mines, several members of their upper echelons were known to use living faunus as sport for hunting, and there were even mentions of far worse that turned her stomach, but that didn't mean they had to sink to their levels. The White Fang had always worked so hard to ensure that no one had to sink to those levels themselves, and then seemingly overnight they were the monsters to haunt children at night.

The screams of the family of one of the heads of the mines would always haunt her to some degree, but it was the visions of what had been done that would make sleeping hard for her. She had left the White Fang before she tried to slip out of Adam's apartment, and that was what had caused the fight where he found out she was leaving. She had never been more thankful to see the police in her life, which seemed to scare Adam off long enough for her to flee the scene.

She knew he wouldn't be in jail for long, but with any luck, she would have disappeared into the background of the world and she would never have to deal with him again.

Pushing herself up, she moved to make her way back down to where she had stashed the rest of her personal effects. She would have to make do with what she had until she earned enough money to buy new clothes and stuff, but she would be able to do it. She was an independent young female faunus and didn't need no one's help. Looking over the wake of the ship through the water she smiled as she reminded herself that she was free now. She was going to be okay.


	2. Adventum

"And as a final note," Ozpin announced while lowering the stack of papers he'd been reading off of to survey the faculty attending the meeting. "Just a reminder that due to construction, the hallway between the West Library and the Language Arts classrooms is closed until further notice."

The sound of acknowledgement informed him that they had heard it, and had known it before he had reminded them. It was one of the least used hallways, but a storm last year had dropped a tree through it, and so it had to be rebuilt. While they were at it, they were adding on a student recreation center to supplement the current one, but it was taking time to complete.

"If there are no further concerns, I believe we can adjourn this meeting and let you prepare for the arrival of the students," he offered kindly as he gave them a dismissive wave of his hand. Watching them filing out, he raised an eyebrow as his assistant headmistress remained behind.

After the door shut behind the final staff member left, she cleared her throat and adjusted her spectacles. "Headmaster, I wished to discuss some of the new students with you. I have noticed something about their transcripts," the blonde woman stated as she pulled out a rather thick looking folder from her satchel case.

"Very well, who is the first one?" he asked feeling that this was going to be a rather trying conversation, but thankfully she could only take a half-hour before they had to arrive at the docks to greet the new students.

Glynda pulled out the first sheet, setting it before him with her finger lingering on several highlighted lines. "This one seems to have several… shall we say disciplinary issues that hopefully had been corrected, but I would suggest maintaining an eye on her."

"She has served her time for those issues, and I believe that she will become an excellent young woman under proper tutelage. That said, she is roomed with another woman with similar issues in her past immediately next to the monitors of Floor F3."

As the stack of students were brought forth and filtered, Ozpin found himself wishing that he had brought a spare thermos of coffee for the meeting. He should have known that Glynda would want to review the special cases he had accepted before the year started. Alas, it would seem hindsight was 20/20 once again. Sighing, he continued providing his reasoning and defending that they were brilliant young minds, fitting of a second chance, and that they had special… gifts… that made them fit in with the founding statement of Beacon Academy. A few times he found himself wishing that she would trust him without all of the explanations, but it still warmed his heart that she was doing her job so efficiently. It reminded him that not all of his past decisions were filled with mistakes.

Finally, it came to the last two, which were merely a bit of a question on room assignments. He had no actual control over the matter, but she had to bring it to his attention. Apparently, somewhere along the way the pair's request to share a room had been lost, and instead they were across the hall from each other. "I believe that it will benefit the young women to use this opportunity to expand their social circles, if it becomes an issue with the younger sister being roomed away from the elder, we can reshuffle the assignments at the semester break. Though we need to look into the filing mishap to ensure it does not happen again."

"You realize that these two are part of the W.A.R.D. program, correct? And the younger is somewhat… impulsive?" she tried to point out without outright stating the main issue with them being intermixed with other students.

"Young Miss Rose has been partnered with Miss Schnee, her family as you know is well acquainted with the program, and thus there should be no issue there. I believe that Miss Xiao Long will maintain her vigilance over her younger sister, even from the great distance of being across the hallway."

Further discussion was cut off by the chiming of the school bells alerting them that they were out of time. They had to get down to the docks to welcome the students and get them situated. Any other issues would have to wait for later.

Standing up, he took up his cane and began making his way towards the docks. There would be the usual standing around while everyone files off of the ship to go to the auditorium where he would give a dull speech that none of the students would remember a quarter of what was said, followed by sending them off to their dorms. Later that night there would be a welcoming social mixer, and then off to the dorms for a quick night's rest before classes tomorrow.

Another start to another year at Beacon Academy, and as he made it to the door, he looked out the window to see the ship pulling in towards the docks with the assistance of a tug boat, he couldn't help but wonder why he had a feeling that he shouldn't have wished for it to all seem so humdrum.

On the cruise ship, several students sneezed loudly, which was echoed shortly by various versions of the standard responses. Yang offered her sister a tissue as she wiped at her own nose. It seemed strange that they had both sneezed at the same time, but it was probably just some dust blowing off of the island or something. "You okay?"

"Yeah..." Ruby answered as she took the tissue, wiping her nose. "Thanks."

As the ship itself seemed to recover from the sudden explosion of air pushing it in the opposite direction, the girls continued checking over their bags that weren't stowed away in the luggage compartment. They had found a few things that they knew their father had put in there, such as Yang's stuffed raven, and Ruby's baby blanket which had dozens of weapons covering it. They had been out shopping one day, looking for something at a department store, when she saw the blanket in the boy's toys section.

The scream when her parents had initially refused to let her to take it with them was still talked about in Patch to this day. It was rare that a two-year old was able to shatter windows with her voice alone after all.

Both had thought they'd left those items in the bottom of their dressers back at home, hidden by several ugly Christmas sweaters their father made them yearly, which were left primarily because of how warm the island was going to be year round. Now, they were safely stowed away at the bottom of their carry-on bags, hopefully secure until they could mail them back home from the safety of their new dorm rooms.

Thankful that no one had witnessed the revelations of the embarrassing memorabilia from their childhood, so they wouldn't have to hide bodies before they had even arrived at college. Picking up their packs, they made their way towards the deck so they could be ready once they docked to disembark and get settled in.

Brisk sea air greeted them on deck, along with a teeming throng of students milling about to watch the approach of their new home for the foreseeable future. Getting a proper view of it, they could see more than just the academy campus, with the city of Vale a short distance away, just visible on top of a hill. Most of the students would get jobs in the city for spending cash and to pass the time during the breaks between quarters when others went home and they couldn't afford to.

There was fields and forests, places for people to go for walks, farms which hired out student help as well, and a large, looming mountain in the center of the island reminding all of its once volcanic past. Already Yang knew that the two sisters would know every crook and cranny of the island by the end of the first year. After all, the island was there just begging to be explored, and who were they to deny such an inviting request?

"Hey Yang! Those are the dorms, right? Over there, the squat square buildings, oh I hope we get a room with a view of the orchard," Ruby cheered as she pointed towards the campus, her excitement levels reaching a fevered pitch. "Hey, someone's coming from the campus to the docks! There's two of them."

Yang looked down at the road from the campus, and sure enough there were two people walking towards the docks. One had to be the headmaster, who had told her that he'd see them when they came off the ship. It was fairly easy to see the silver hair and black suit from this distance, which she remembered from when they had their video conference with him. However, she couldn't really make out the person next to him.

She knew it to be a woman with blonde hair, a white shirt and black skirt that did amazing things for her figure. Given the distance, and the ability for Yang to tell without question it was a female identifying individual, the outfit was nothing short of magical in her opinion… if she wasn't magically inclined herself that is. She'd be able to tell once they were closer, but she doubted someone like what the stride suggested would use magic for something so frivolous as to improve her figure.

Oh by the ley lines did she hope she had her as a teacher. She would love to be able to watch her dominate a classroom with nothing but a glance.

"Yang, you're drooling," Ruby chided as she poked her older sister. A roll of her eyes indicated just what her younger sister thought was the cause of this. And she probably wasn't too far off. After all, hormones were probably at least partially to blame for some of the thoughts raging in her mind at the moment.

"I am going to tease you so mercilessly when you have your first crush and are unable to do anything about it," Yang promised, her eyes narrowing as she loomed over her younger sister. There was only one punishment for disrupting such a pleasant fantasy after all. She had read it in the unwritten laws of being an older sister.

Moving with swift assuredness, she locked Ruby's neck in the crook of her arm and pulled her down to her side. As the smaller girl struggled to free herself, Yang blew off imaginary dust from her knuckles in preparation for what was to come. "This is for your own good Rubes!" she declared before her knuckles contacted the skull and began rubbing back and forth through the short cropped hair. It wasn't hard, she wasn't mean, but it was still a little humiliating for Ruby to get a noogie like this. Once they were on dry land, she would likely be in trouble from her sister's retribution, but for now she had the upper hand.

It was just a quick ten seconds, but it was still enough to make sure Ruby got the message that she wasn't going to just let her ruin all of her fun daydreams without consequences. Ruby growled angrily as she rubbed the top of her head, before blowing a raspberry at her older sister.

Not far away, a pair of ice-blue eyes watched the antics of the sisters with a disdainful glare, though there was a hint of longing in the corners of them as she turned away to resume inspecting the island that served as a beacon of hope for her future. She was not jealous of them and their casual relationship with each other, when she and her sister had to remain formal at all times due to their social status according to their father. Weiss sighed softly to herself as the ship began to slow down, she would put them out of her mind and never have to deal with them again.

Her eyes drifted away from the campus and up to the city which had sprung up on top of the hill to support the internationally renowned campus. That was where she would have to find her first steps to freedom. She would find a good position somewhere for someone of her talents and abilities, and use those experiences to further refine her plans for the reshaping of the Schnee Conglomerate. Best of all, her father would not be involved and she would learn properly how the rest of the world lived.

Winter had disagreed with this part of her plan, stating that most companies would use her either for vengeance against the Schnee family, a way to improve their standings with society, or suck up to her and ruin her plans. However, they had spent hours over various conferences, and countless more hours researching every business on the island to work down a list of places she should apply to that had no dealings with the Schnee family, was outside of the social circles that would benefit from knowing that Weiss was working there, and most importantly, was not in a competing field for the family's business interest. What that meant was about fifteen places that weren't restaurants or grocery stores. Altogether, in the city of just under twenty-thousand full-time residents, she had around forty places to apply to. It was better than she had feared, and Winter finally granted her approval, but made Weiss promise that if she ever needed help fiscally, she would call her first.

Like hell she would even consider groveling herself to the man that claimed to be her Father.

While the heiress to one of the most powerful companies on the planet was plotting silently about her future, little did she suspect that not too far away the owner of a pair of amber eyes was resisting the urge to shove her off the ship. It surprised Blake just how much the little heiress brought out the hatred in her, standing there without a single care in her perfect world, while Blake had to claw and scrape for everything she had so far.

But just as quickly as the flash of anger had arrived, so too did it vanish with a wave of cold terror as she realized just whose voice it had been that had told her to kill the heiress. It wasn't her own dry, cynical and bitter tone, but a deeper, angry tone that she had only heard once in her life. It was Adam's voice from when he had confronted her about her departure from not only White Fang, but also his life entirely. She was taken aback by how much the thought of the possibility that she could never be free of him filled her mind. She hated the violence that the White Fang had turned to, feeling that it would only beget more violence in turn against the faunus, but it had been so easy to slip into the hatred. So tempting to just… let her anger guide her this one time.

Leaning against the wall of whatever cabin happened to be behind her, she studied the deck and ignored the sounds of someone vomiting nearby while trying to calm her racing thoughts. She wasn't like Adam, was she? The heiress had just grown up surrounded by wealth, privilege, countless servants, and probably showered with endless gifts, everything that Blake had been denied. But that wasn't a reason to sentence her to death. Was it?

Several deep breaths later, she found her center and emotional balance returning. She had not acted upon the instinct, that meant that she was not Adam with his unrelenting lust for killing humans, in particular any that had even the most remote of links to the Schnee family or business. But it might be best if she were not roomed with her, if she was that unlucky, she would find other accommodations to serve until a transfer could be arranged. It wouldn't be the first time she'd slept on rooftops to avoid rooming with someone for a night or two.

Sensing the stop of motion on the ship, she opened her eyes in time to see the boarding ramp clamp onto the railing, with a small ramp dropping down to allow easy access. She would wait a while longer for the crowd to die down before making her journey back to the lovely, beautiful, dry majesty that was the ground she would be standing on shortly. Perhaps a couple days on dry land would help to improve her mood, and make her less murder happy.

She would have much preferred to arrive by plane, chopper, or any other of the numerous transports that didn't involve her being trapped on a floating box surrounded by nothing but water for days on end, but apparently the island was too small for anything more than a simple airport for smaller planes, and an emergency medical helicopter at the local hospital. Both of which were far beyond the expenses she could afford at the moment, so she had been stuck with the hell that was travelling by ship.

Oh well, at least she had gotten plenty of reading done while she hid on the highest point away from the water as possible.

The boarding process was completed without much trouble, the students being told that their luggage would be waiting for them in their rooms by the time they got there. Apparently, there was to be an orientation that they'd have to sit through, which after having been cooped up on the ship for such an extended time sounded even more boring than it probably really was, but most went along with it, if for no other reason than to get it over with.

The entire mess of first year students and a couple of transfers from other academies were taken on a short tour of the campus, starting with what might be the most important building to their future: the cafeteria.

After that was the library, the student dorms, the electric tram terminal for going to the City, and finally the auditorium where they were to sit and listen to Ozpin's welcoming speech. An event that the students might be surprised to find out that their headmaster was not looking forward to even to the remote amount of even the most jaded of them.

Walking up the stairs to the stage, his cane clacked with each step. It was mostly for show, but still it seemed to fit his personality rather well. That was until it got stuck in a hole on the stage. It took him a couple steps before realizing it was missing. Looking back at it, he gave it a betrayed look, before turning to regard the students as a whole. With a shrug, he took his place behind the podium, leaving the cane where it was embedded into the stage like the sword in the stone.

"Well now, I guess we know where I need to fix up next, don't we?" he asked, getting a bit of laughter from the assembled students. Holding up a hand, he called for silence, which came eventually. "Thank you for humoring me with your laughter, I am Professor Ozpin, headmaster of Beacon Academy, and I welcome you to what I hope you will come to consider a second home. Now, if you will forgive me a bit of rambling, we can make this quick and be able to get you to your dorms in time to change for the welcoming party."

Ozpin scanned the crowd, seeing that he had at least a good chunk of, if not their entire attention. It was honestly better than he had expected, and that was enough for him. His eyes settled on a head of silver hair directly in front of him, followed shortly by a black haired girl with a fairly large bow in her hair. "Regardless of where you come from, what your history is, I want you all to treat each other as equal and without the prejudice of the world at whole."

"It is a futile hope to wish that every human, faunus, and dare I say any other creature that may exist, be able to coexist peacefully at the flip of a switch," he continued ignoring the shifting in the seats and the expressions of a few of the students. "However, here at Beacon Academy we serve to be a light of what is possible when educated and informed people are allowed to learn from each other. You are the best and brightest hope for the future of this world, and it is my privilege as your instructor to help you find your own path in life."

"Now, I suppose you are tired of listening to me spout philosophy, but I hope these words have reached at least some of you," he stated, his eyes drifting over the assembled students, noting a few of them seemed to be really keen on his words. If even those few students were to live up to his hope for a peaceful future, then he would feel that his duty to the world as an educator had been fulfilled, but there was always hope for those that hadn't been shown the spark at the very beginning. "So, how about we get down to what you need to know for the next couple days?"

"Your dorm rooms have your first initial and last name on a placard next to the doors, on the desks you will find one folder addressed to yourself, and one to your roommate. Also waiting for you will be the luggage from the ship, minus what you carry with you now. Please be mindful of your roommate's privacy. Inside the folder you will find a campus map. Please note that the hall between the Library and the Language Arts Department is closed due to construction and repairs for the time being, and so make sure to note that when planning out your routes to classes. It will also hold your schedule for your first semester of classes."

Feeling their attention waning, he decided to wrap things up quickly. "One last thing you will find inside the folder is a booklet on campus rules, which you all agreed to with your signatures before being accepted, but the part you will need most is in the back cover. This includes your student I.D. which doubles as your free meal ticket twice daily, and the campus Wi-Fi password. I'm sure most of you are eager for that nugget of information, hmm?"

At the bemused chuckle and a few hoots of approval, he let out a soft laugh himself. "Now then, I believe you are dismissed until twenty-hundred hours, or eight pm, when the faculty will be hosting a welcoming social event for you. Please do at least wear clothing your parents would approve of for that."

He watched the students filing out, a couple lingering behind as they waited for the crowd to die down. However, it was a blur of black and red dragging along something that looked like a swarm of yellow and brown that caught his attention. The strength it took to pull someone larger than herself completely off the ground for such a distance was impressive, but he felt that there would be some paperwork to deal with if she kept that up. Ah well, that would be a bridge to cross in the future.

Walking over to his cane, he winked at a pair of students that had hung behind before stamping on the ground next to it, sending the cane up into the air where he caught it expertly. If he didn't know better, he'd think the one wearing the blue beret was a robot by her completely deadpanned expression. However, the girl next to her was a much more appreciative audience for his little theatric, clapping happily while her red hair bounced as she tried to encourage her 'friend' to clap as well.

Giving her a little nod, he descended the stage and began to mingle, getting to know the students he would be molding into the future leaders of tomorrow. At least that was the plan until a pained cry rent the air, causing everyone to glance towards the dorms, deciding that it was best to investigate, he bade the other students to terry a moment while he rushed ahead. Glynda met him at the door to the dormitories looking fairly cross.

"That was Ruby finding out she wasn't roomed with her sister," Glynda stated before he could even open his mouth. "Yang has already calmed her down enough that she will manage, but if she is half as dramatic as this for the rest of the year, you might have a challenger for the Most Dramatic award come next summer."

"Of course, that is my main concern after all…" he snarked back, wondering how she had managed to say that with a completely straight face. His reward was the slightest hint of a smirk twitching at the corner of her mouth, which would have been a smile for anyone less restrained than she was.

"Quite, now hurry off to prepare for your little party while I deal with the mess you left me," she stated as a riding crop appeared in her hands as if my magic, barely missing his nose. Discretion was the better part of valor, and he knew when the crop appeared, he should be elsewhere.

"Right then, I suppose I do have to meet with Dr. Oobleck and inform him of possible issues he may face with the new students. Carry on," he answered while he made a strategic withdrawal away from the assistant headmistress.


	3. Primum lectiones

Ruby curled up in the corner of her new room clutching her sister's stuffed raven, she wasn't crying, but she wasn't her usual energetic self. She seemed to be staring at the far side of the room where a stranger would be living with her for the next however long it was going to be. A stranger who was going to think she was just some know-it-all little girl that had no business being college. Whoever this W. Schnee had a lot more luggage than she did, and it was all fancy looking stuff that she was afraid to get dirty by just being near. Hearing the click of the door handle turning, she sniffled and spoke up. "I told you Yang… I don't wanna talk about it… You can have Caw-Caw back tomorrow…"

"While I am certain she would appreciate the message, I am not her," a sharp female voice stated crisply as heels clicked against the wooden floor. Looking up, her eyes widened in shock at the not-Yang blonde that was standing there, looming over her as she walked into the room proper. "Hello Miss Rose, I am the assistant headmistress, and one of the resident advisors for this floor. My name is Glynda Goodwitch, and you have caused a rather sizeable disturbance with your outburst."

As she stared in mounting horror, Ruby watched helplessly as the woman with a scowl deep on her face approached, the menacing leather device in her hands barely swaying with each step. Whatever it was called sliced through the air, cracking against nothing as she seemed to be pointing to something. "Would you mind if I sat there?" Goodwitch asked, finally making Ruby break her terror lock on her approach and look over at where she was pointing. It was the bed near where she had taken to hiding, with all her bags next to it. Swallowing against her nerves, she shook her head nervously.

"N-no, go ahead?" she offered, feeling very unsure of what this woman was going to do. Was she going to spank her for crying out like that? Send her home? Make her vanish? Her mind was ramping up with all sorts of horrible, terrible options that might occur. But instead of any of them, the woman sat down on the foot of the bed, and sighed softly.

"I would like to apologize, I had wished to speak with you and your sister about this matter before you arrived at the dorms," Goodwitch offered, still stern and scowling, but it seemed less intimidating, and more… open? It felt as though she was more cross with herself than with Ruby, and that really threw the girl for a loop. "If I may explain, there was a filing error, and we had not noticed it until today. We would like to ask that you give us at least a semester before rectifying the error. There are a lot of services that would require a written notice for a mid-term transfer, and with your sister being right across the hall, we hoped it might serve as well enough."

"That makes a lot of sense," Ruby offered as she looked over the prim and proper woman before her. She was still rather intimidating, especially the way she was tapping the stick with leather at the end against her thigh, almost like she was expecting something. "I… I'm sorry, I just… I was looking forward to rooming with Yang and…"

"And now you have the added problem of sharing a room with someone who does not know your secret?" the woman asked as a small ball of light floated up off the end of the crop, drifting over towards Ruby before bursting open into a swarm of butterflies that faded from view rather beautifully. Ruby blinked a few times as she realized just what she had seen, and then focused on the woman that had cast the spell. "Yes, the last name Goodwitch is a bit obvious, is it not?"

"Yeah…" Ruby agreed awkwardly with a nervous little laugh as she fiddled with the cuff of her sleeve, her attention drifted from the striking woman before her to look at her fingers playing with her shirt's cuff. "I'm not stupid… I just wanna help people, I don't see why we have to lie and sneak about it..."

"That compassion is a wonderful trait, and I hope to never see you lose it, but the rules are in place to protect us from being exploited," the older woman explained with a sigh and a shake of her head. "With great power comes great responsibilities, everyone would look to you when things happen, whether for defense, a response of force, or even to make things as they perceive as better. With so few users in the world, we would have little recourse."

"Still sucks," Ruby answered with a pout as she hugged her knees to her chest again.

"An apt description of the situation would be… the lesser of two evils, but we can offer you a bit of assistance in the matter. Aside from a few of the other faculty members, whom I will give you and your sister a list of their names, there are a few students in attendance who are similarly inclined to our abilities. If you find yourself struggling, and your sister is unable to aide you to the degree necessary, perhaps you could seek out them for advice? I understand it would be easier than talking to your deputy headmistress."

"Sounds fair…" she agreed a little leery about the sudden offer of help.

"Of course there'd be expectation that you would return the assistance to others in the future, and a request for you to try your best to protect the secret. Your roommate is from the Schnee family, who as I'm sure you are aware supply quite a few components to users, however she is ignorant of that side of the business currently," Glynda explained, as her scowl deepened. Weiss was to be the heiress of the company, and yet was kept in the dark about a major component of it, a fact that she did not trust in the least. "Which means that there is a small buffer of legal repercussions regarding her finding out the Secret, however we ask that you do your best to prevent that revelation, as her family has chosen to leave her ignorant for the time being."

Ruby stared at her in honest confusion, why wouldn't they tell her about the awesome world of magic if they could? Especially if it was the Schnee family she was thinking about. Their dust was the key component in several spells and attacks users used the world over, with only a couple small businesses eking out a living aside from them. "Yang is right across the hall, and I can talk with you if I need to right?"

"I am the door at the end of the hall, and will make time for you if you should need it. If you find others you are more comfortable with, I will understand and wish you the best," the blonde offered while holding out her hand as though to help Ruby off the ground. "Can I trust you with this?"

"I will do my best!" Ruby agreed as she took the offered hand, surprised as a glowing circle of magic surrounded the two of them at the contact. The radiant energy seemed to cause her hair and clothing to flutter upwards in an unseen breeze in slow motion, a feat mirrored by the somewhat displeased Glynda.

As the magic faded from around them, the older woman couldn't help but let out a soft laugh as she realized what had just happened. "That is rather curious, it would seem that you need to work on your control after all," she mused as she smoothed out her skirt. "We will work on that if you wish to take some supplementary lessons, on Saturday morning. 9 am sharp."

The tone of her voice suggested that Ruby would not be able to just say 'no' and walk away from the agreement. With a nod of her head, she agreed for the extra class that would likely never be on the curriculum. At least she'd be able to get to use magic outside of topping off wards.

"Now that all of this is properly in order, I will see you for your first lesson this Saturday," Glynda stated as she turned towards the door. Pausing just before the wooden object were to block her from view, she caught Ruby in the corner of her eye and finished with, "I do suggest you learn some more self-control by then," before exiting into the hallway.

Ruby stared after her, Caw-Caw falling limply from her suddenly numb fingers before she joined it on the ground in a lump of limp limbs and confusion. She couldn't even remembering summoning the magic power that had flared up just there, but in the back of her mind a voice of her dad reading out of their lesson books reminded her that during times of stress magic was known to flare up and react to the first trigger they could find.

Yeah, this was going to be a very long year…

Several buildings over, Weiss stared at the far wall as she sat waiting for the woman heading up the Work-placement and Research Department to finish with her call. It had seemed rather important, so she did not mind that she was being made to wait. Turning her head, she saw a squat young woman bustle through with several folders, entering the office and leaving them on the desk inside before leaving. Though she gave Weiss a smile and friendly wave, she had failed to properly close the door fully and so a little of the conversation drifted to her ears. "No Nessa, I don't think the doctors are lying to you," the pale woman whose skin reflected the green off her dress stated into the phone. "If they say this procedure could help, then it's most probable that it can help."

"It will be covered by my insurance, there's no need for you to worry about that end of things," she answered after 'Nessa' must have said something on the other end of the phone, reaching up to adjust her glasses. "No Nessa, Father has entrusted you to my care, and as such it may not be best for us to inform him of this. I will take care of everything for you until you are ready to care for yourself. This is a large step, so I'd ask that you think about it properly over the next couple days. I have a meeting to attend in three minutes and fifteen seconds; I'll call you tonight to check to ensure those nurses are taking proper care of you."

The click of the phone being placed into the cradle caused Weiss to refocus on the wall again, trying to avoid being caught at having heard something she felt the other woman would not appreciate knowing she listened in on. "Miss Schnee?" the woman's voice inquired sharply, causing her to focus on the stern woman glaring down at her from the doorway to her right. "I am informed that you have a matter for my attention. If you will pardon my delay in having you wait, we may proceed with the meeting, and you may prepare yourself for the welcoming party for the other First Year students."

"Of course ma'am, I appreciate you taking the time to meet with me. Father stated that I should deliver this package at the soonest opportunity," Weiss answered as she stood up from the seat, bowing slightly as she extended her hand in greetings to the older woman.

Instead of it being taken, the woman gave it a disdainful glance before turning to return to her office. "Enter, and close the door."

Weiss blinked in confusion as she was left with her hand hanging in the air where she had extended it. Lowering it to her side, she rested her other hand upon the shoulder bag holding the case that she was carrying for Father. Stepping into the office, she noted that it was perfectly tidy and had very little in way of personality, which she felt was fitting for the emerald tinted woman waiting for her to approach. A seat was waiting on the opposite side of the desk from the woman and watched as she shuffled through a few files before looking up at her again. "My name is Elphaba Thropp, did your father inform you what was in the case that you are to deliver to me?"

"No Miss Thropp," Weiss answered as she pulled out the sealed container and set it carefully on the desk, not wanting to risk scratching the finish on the wood. She could see it was a beautifully crafted mahogany desk, which she dared to imagine was hand crafted as well.

Elphaba took the container and pressed her thumb against a scanner next to the lock on the front of the lid. After a soft beep, she slid the latches inward before the lid popped open. A quick glance inside by the pale woman seemed to confirm the contents were in good condition before it was clicked close again. "Everything is in order and good condition; I will send my gratitude to your father for his assistance in this matter, and for your quick delivery. However, allow me to express my gratitude to you personally. Do you have any other matters that you wish to discuss with me?"

"I-" Weiss started to deny, before looking around the office quietly. "I would like to request an appointment to discuss the possibility of me finding employment."

This seemed to surprise the woman, whose eyebrow quirked upwards as she leaned forward to stare at Weiss in earnest. The narrow focus of the eyes, the arrow sharp point of the nose, and crisp lines of her cheekbones all seemed to stab into Weiss's very being and tear apart her very core. "I have an opening next Monday, at Five pm. If you were to be here at that time, I would be able to have a discussion with you about your goals and aspirations, as well as excellent opportunities to aide you with starting on your path. If that is acceptable, please inform the secretary on your way out."

Weiss knew a dismissal when she heard one, her Father being very fond of them himself. Bowing her head to Miss Thropp, she stood up and moved towards the door with a deepening frown. She felt that she was going to have to deal with Father hearing about this. Just as she was about to open the door, Miss Thropp spoke up while looking at some papers on her desk. "And Miss Schnee, I trust that as you are an adult, we do not need to involve your father, correct?"

"Yes ma'am," Weiss answered with heartfelt relief. She had an ally here at school that wasn't through her father or her sister, or at least she hoped that Thropp had found something in her that convinced her that Weiss was worth her time. "I will see you Monday."

"That you will," the green woman stated as the door opened and closed, a few minutes later she looked up at the closed door and smiled to herself, "That you will, Miss Weiss."

Making her way to the dorms, Weiss felt safely optimistic about her prospects for her immediate future. There was only a momentary delay as she noticed several students seemingly looking at her as she approached, but wrote that off as them recognizing her as the Schnee Heiress. She just wanted to find her room and rest a while before attending the little soiree with the other students of her class. Perhaps she might be able to make some friends at the meeting?

Entering the dorm building, she found a fairly nice lobby area, with a commons area off to one side, complete with vending machines and a small games area where a few students were already browsing through the selection. Walking to the other side, she checked the ledger there before climbing the stairs to the next level. It would appear she shared a room on the first floor up, which she counted as a blessing as she didn't want to climb several floors every day. Walking down the hall, she read off the nameplates with a mild disinterest as she committed the names to memory. It was her first time having neighbors, and she hoped to make a good impression with them.

At the far end of the hall from the stairs, she found her room, one that she would be sharing with an R. Rose. Steadying her nerves, she took a deep breath before presenting her best smile. It felt a bit tense, but it would serve for now. Opening the door, she found one of the sisterly pair from on the ship stretched out on a bed, staring at the ceiling. "Oh, hello," Weiss offered pleasantly as she entered the room, addressing the woman. "I am Weiss Schnee, might I know your name?"

Her roommate sprung off of the bed, and appeared to offer hand towards Weiss with an open friendly smile. While Weiss took the hand and shook it, the girl began talking, still pumping the hand at a steady pace. "Hey, I'm Ruby Rose; you can call me Ruby if you want. Sorry about the mess I made," she offered, pointing to one of the desks. At least Weiss assumed it had once been a desk, there were the standard textbooks lined up along the wall in an organized fashion, but that was about the only thing organized.

In front of the texts were more books with subjects ranging from warfare and history to a fairly popular romance series, a half-dozen pictures of Ruby with the yellow haired girl from earlier, and a rather dashing man with hair matching the other girl. She assumed that it was family pictures, which she had a couple herself that she would be placing on display once she was settled in to the room. However, there was also a man with dark hair like Ruby, so she rethought the idea that the two were sisters. Perhaps rather close cousins? Or sisters by adoption?

Next to the desk was what appeared to be a fairly long solid instrument case; perhaps for a guitar or some similar instrument? She hoped that her roommate would be considerate about practicing with it at the very least.

All said, it was not too unacceptable of a mess to deal with. "Quite alright Ruby, we will likely both have days where such disarray is commonplace. I hope that we can both find an acceptable balance in that regard."

"So, we have a couple walk-in closets on either side of our room, I don't know if you prefer one side of the room or the other, so I didn't unpack anything and just left our stuff where the staff dropped them off save for what I dumped on the desk. I can totally switch desks if you want though, I was just a little nervous and wanted to find some books of mine to read. I didn't find the right ones, and felt I had made a big enough mess, so I was just going to wait for you or the get-together thing and…" Ruby began rambling as she finally broke the handshake and started fidgeting with some set of gears on the covered desk. Before Weiss's eyes, the gears turned into a clockwork mechanism of some description, and curiously enough, she could almost recognize it. It looked like the core components for a time delayed locking mechanism.

"What are you working on there?" Weiss asked out of polite interest, attempting to regain some participation in the runaway ramble that was apparently a conversation with Ruby. "As for the arrangement of our room, I believe that for the time being we can utilize what they have given us and see how it progresses from there."

"Yeah… that sounds good… so, I guess you want to change into something for the party. Do you want me to leave while you do that? I can go hang out with Yang or… umm… read in the closet by my bed?" Ruby seemed like she was trying to be polite and give Weiss space, or not offend her, or… well Weiss couldn't really tell what the girl was trying to do.

After a moment of awkward silence, she seemed to retrace the conversation and perked up a bit. "Oh this?" she asked holding up the assortment of metal parts. "I noticed the timing was off on my sister's safe, so after she emptied it before our trip, I offered to fix it. This is the time delay lock component. It looks like one of the gears got a little gummy, so I was cleaning it up for her… Oh, I do the cleaning outside, since those fumes stink. But if the smell lingers around, let me know and I'll try a new cleaner or something…"

Weiss wasn't sure what to make of the girl, on one hand, she seemed to be earnest and accommodating, but at the same time scatterbrained might be the nicest way of putting how she came off. She wasn't sure what was going on with the offer to give her full reign over the room just to change her dress, but wrote it off as them being strangers and the girl having issues with seeing others she didn't know that well in such situations. "Ruby, I can change in the closet when the time comes for that, however tonight I was just going to wear my current dress. It is still clean and acceptable for wearing in public."

"Oh, yeah I guess…" Ruby offered a little awkwardly as she continued to fiddle with the lock, her eyes not meeting Weiss's. She put it down after a moment and took a breath. "So, I really don't like parties and things, so I wanted to let you know that I might be leaving early. Probably just come back here and unpack… if you come back late, don't worry about waking me up. I sleep pretty soundly."

"That is more than acceptable, I do not believe that tonight will be that long of a social engagement as it is the night prior to our first day of classes," the white haired girl answer with an uneasy smile as she turned to go sit on her bed. "It is mostly to greet others of our class, and then perhaps just a light meal, as we got in after supper with all the touring and orientation."

"That makes sense…" Ruby muttered, trying to remember how long ago she'd eaten. Yang probably would have reminded her a few times already if it was more than twelve hours ago, so it was quite probably less than that, unless she'd been distracted by the new stuff going on today as well.

"That blonde girl you were in the pictures, who is she?" Weiss asked as she settled onto the bed carefully, smoothing out her skirt so it wouldn't crease in an unflattering way.

"Yang Xiao Long," a voice stated from the doorway, causing both girls to whip around to see the bountiful blonde standing in the doorway with a smug looking smirk on her face. "Yo, how's my little sis treating you?"

"YAAAANG!" Ruby exclaimed as she launched a flying tackle that would have done some professional football players proud, tackling the newcomer who barely even moved an inch.

Weiss stood up, approaching the impressively built woman with a pleasant smile on her face. "Hello, I am Weiss Schnee… Apparently I am to be your younger sister's roommate?" she offered as she found her previous assessment of the two's relationship to have been the correct one. "I hope that we are able to get along."

"Hey Rubes, one of my mecha figures got broken while we were sailing, think you could see about fixing it?" she asked, nudging her little sister towards the door, "I'll just talk with your roommate while you look it over and give me an estimate. And no family discounts this time."

Ruby called out an agreement as she crossed the hall, going to Yang's desk in her room to work on the broken figurine. Meanwhile, Yang looked over towards Weiss and let her friendly smile slip from her face. "Right, that gives us a few minutes, so I'm going to be quick. Ruby is not great with people, so try and be patient with her, please."

"I will do my best, but I do not find her to be trying on my patience," Weiss answered honestly as she backed up a step from the protective older sister. There was something intimidating about her now that Ruby wasn't here.

"Good, because Ruby is very dear to me, and I would hate to find her crying…" Yang stated as her eyes narrowed at the heiress, like she didn't even care that the girl could ruin her for life with a single call to her Father. Then in almost an instant the scowl was gone, and Yang was giving her a bright smile. "But if you ever find yourself needing help with her, call me okay? I know how much of a handful she can be, and a cutie like you might not know how to handle it."

If Yang was attempting to keep the heiress off balance, she was doing an excellent job of it. Weiss had no idea how to react to the flirting that followed the implied threat from the blonde. Covering her confusion with a haughty sniff, she turned away to try and mask the blush on her cheeks. "You do not have to worry about me making her cry, and if a ruffian like you can 'handle' her, I will have no trouble in the least!"

Yang laughed at that, her eyes twinkling with an unknown emotion even as though her smile didn't falter at all. As she settled down, she seemed to measure Weiss up with a new respect in her eyes before answering, "Oh? Very well then Princess, we'll see just how well you can handle Ruby. See ya around."

With that, Yang turned and left giving the heiress a playful wink and a friendly wave, followed by blowing her a kiss over her shoulder.

Weiss took a deep breath, counting to ten before letting it out. She knew she shouldn't let her get to her, since this was probably just her playing around, but it actually felt like the woman seemed to hold an interest in her. However, Weiss was not here to date or play around, she was here to get her degree, make her sister proud, and develop herself to be the type of business leader that the Schnee Corporation will need in the future. But part of that might require her to socialize with others and develop contacts within the various social strata. So she shouldn't completely isolate herself from the sister of her roommate, she could be a good insight into the lower classes, as would her sister.

Ruby returned somewhere in the middle of her ruminations and planning, interrupting her with a tap to the shoulder. "Hey, we should get going before we're late. You okay?"

"Yes Ruby, I believe that I am just fine," she answered; her mind calming down as she found familiar ground to fall back on.


	4. Rudis Excitatio

The familiar ground that Weiss had fallen back on was stripped from under her feet as she found herself thrust into a rather strange social engagement. There was this strange 'food' item on the tables within the room that Ruby had declared as 'pizza' before making a bee-line for what appeared to be one with chunks of pineapple and some sort of meat on it. There was a variety of choices spread out on the tables, with several cases of soda and one of bottled water off to one side of the room.

For as many types of pizza on the tables, there seemed to be just as many ways to eat it. Ruby and Yang seemed to be trying to inhale their slices whole, while another student dipped it into what appeared to be ranch sauce before taking a bit. One more used a fork and a knife to slice it into pieces, and various stages in between. It was, to be honest a little overwhelming.

Edging near the pizza, she began looking at them, noticing that many of them were labeled. Apparently the sisters enjoyed a Ham and Pineapple pizza, while many others liked a greasy looking one called pepperoni. She noticed that there was one marked with anchovies off to one side away from the others, which a black-haired girl seemed to have claimed a monopoly on and was blowing off the slice on her plate. Trying to pick a good pizza for her first, she searched through the titles for a clue. It was when she came across on labeled 'White Pizza' that she felt that she had a good omen. It did not have the red sauce that the others had, which meant that she wouldn't have to worry overly much about stains, was mostly cheese with herbs on top.

Taking a slice, she placed it carefully on a plate to let it cool off a little while she went to get one of the bottles of water. She had barely made it across the room when a tall, blue-haired boy stumbled into her path as a blonde monkey-faunus shoved him. She barely had time to yank her plate out of the path, saving her slice from a trip to the floor. Giving the pair her best glare, she felt it falter when the blue-haired guy just smiled and winked at her.

Returning to her quest for a bottle of water, she just wanted to eat in peace for a moment. It was strange to her that there was no social etiquette for this food that she could observe, let alone that she was going to be eating around others. However, this was something she had been looking forward to, and she was going to put her best foot forward. Never let it be said that she wasn't courageous and adventurous, and what was that growling noise?

She was about to look at her stomach when she noticed that she wasn't the only one to hear it. Following the eyes of the assembled students, she turned to the doorway she had just crossed, only to find teeth greeting her eyes. Teeth and drool, and a horrible smell that she was sure would have turned her stomach had she not been too busy being terrified. The maw opened up, revealing long dagger like teeth, easily bigger than her hands.

It was at this point that time seemed to slow down for her, somewhere in the back of her mind, she heard a scream. The maw was coming closer to her, ready to engulf her whole in a single bite. She could even see the bumps on its tongue seeking out a taste of her blood.

The next second there was a blur of yellow, and the beast was gone, mostly. Whatever had hit it had managed to knock it hard enough that a singular red orb spun lazily in the air before her, only to land with a squelching noise on her slice of pizza.

She stared at the red eyeball that was staring back at her from her slice of pizza, she could feel some unknown rage boiling inside of her as there was more screaming, mingled with roars from more of whatever it was that had just tried to eat her. Turning away from the ruined slice, she let it fall from her hands as she saw Yang pummeling the beasts with a strange pair of yellow gauntlets on her hands, while Ruby had her back, spinning around a flagpole while shouting something about needing to find a charm. A redheaded female was using a side table as a shield, while a leg served as a spear of sorts as she protected others from a group of the beasts. There was an orange haired girl that had grabbed what appeared to be an entire table and was currently smashing it into anything that got near her or a boy with a pink stripe in his black hair. Elsewhere, more pockets of protective resistance formed to ward off whatever type of creatures that had attacked the gathering.

In a moment of clarity, she had been able to study the beasts, and found them to be almost like wolves, if wolves came in the size of a small car, with pitch black skin, white bones over their faces and back, and gleaming red eyes that was. She found herself grabbing a metal leg that had broken off a table, and assuming the first position as her instructor in sword fighting had told her. A deep breath to ready her nerves and she was on the offensive, something that only the sisters seemed willing to do. The broken pipe like length of metal pierced the eyes of one beast, before being ripped out and slashing across the neck of another. As she attempted to recover from her over extension, she found that she hadn't pressed forward on her own, as a table pushed by a trio of boys slammed into the beast that was about to rip her to shreds. A small smile spread over her face, letting her gratitude show for the assistance before returning to the fight at hand.

Another of the beasts sprang up in front of her, and she lunged forward under its reach and jammed her pipe sword into its ribs before rolling to the side to let it die as she continued to press the attack on the creatures. Her pipe sword ripped open another beast, which vanished before her eyes, just as the sound of a sharp voice cut through the sudden silence. "Well then, I presume that there is a good explanation for this?"

Her eyes widened in terror as she turned to see the stern scowl of Glynda Goodwitch looking over the scene of… where was all the bodies of the creatures? Some of the students had injuries, but there were no creatures. It just looked like several students assaulted their classmates in a mad bid to escape the room for no reason.

The pipe clanged from her hand, echoed by several other improvised weapons falling to the ground in an unceremonious cacophony of noise. Even as Goodwitch glanced around the room, the Headmaster Ozpin walked in with a deep frown on his face. "I believe that we will have to investigate the matter personally Glynda, but first some of these students require medical aide. Miss Rose, Miss Xiao Long: My office please. Those of you that are uninjured go to your rooms and await my summons. Those requiring medical aide, please stay here."

With a heavy sigh, she started to move towards the doors so she could go get her mind together after whatever just happened here. Her departure was stopped by a hand resting on her shoulder. Turning to look back at the hand's owner to ask who dared touch her, she found herself staring into amber eyes. The eyes were locked on hers with a concerned expression before they glanced down to her right side. "You are hurt, you should stay here," the black-haired woman stated softly as she moved Weiss towards a seat. "Hold still."

Settling down on the chair, she looked over at her right side and saw that she had gotten hit sometime. With the adrenaline draining out of her, the pain started to wash over her as the gash in her arm began seeping blood into her shirt sleeve. Had it been in that initial skirmish, or possibly when she had over extended and left her right side exposed? Oddly enough, despite the pain in her arm, she found herself watching the blood soaking into her clothing with an almost detached interest. A strip of black fabric, maybe even silk ribbon, cut into her vision and began cinching up the wound tightly. "Hey, you're Weiss, right? I think you are in the room across from mine." The woman stated, her eyes glancing up to ensure of something with Weiss.

This, along with a sharp stab of pain from her arm being bound, seemed to bring Weiss back from the edge of wherever her mind was slipping to. Letting out a hiss from the pain, she focused on the strangely calm girl binding her wounds. "Please just call me Weiss, am I to assume you are Yang's roommate then?" she asked, as the raven haired woman leaned in to bite a tear into the ribbon.

"Blake Belladonna. As for Yang, yes, but I have not met her yet. I had other business to attend to after the ship," the woman explained as she checked over the field tourniquet and dressing that her ribbon had been turned into. Seemingly satisfied, she moved to go sit next to Weiss while favoring one leg. "You were pretty good with that pipe against… whatever those things were."

"Thank you," Weiss offered as she looked down at the woman's leg, noticing the ankle of one was fairly swollen, looking over the rest of her, she saw that there were tears in her clothing in a similar fashion to ones where the creatures clawed into the wall. "Are you alright?"

"Just a sprain from when I got hit by a flying table," she answered, shifting in her seat, the start of a bruise peeking out of the tears in her clothing. The grimacing on her face spoke volumes about the amount of pain she felt at that moment. "It doesn't feel broken, but I don't like that I felt it pop when I got hit."

"That sounds rather horrible, to be honest," Weiss stated tiredly as she leaned back against the chair she'd been seated in, letting her eyes close as she took a deep, calming breath. "What on earth were those things?"

"No idea," Blake responded, keeping an eye on the heiress that had inadvertently saved her life. When the table had clocked her, a creature was about to tear her to pieces until a pipe pieced through its eye and a swirl of white danced into her vision.

A part of her wished nothing but a horrible death for the woman beside her, a small bit of suffering to mirror that which her family her family had inflicted on a countless number of faunus throughout the years. It was however, a tiny part of her and there were other opinions rolling around that countered it, or were completely unrelated. The most vocal wished she had scarfed down another slice of that anchovy pizza, but another reminded her of one fact that turned her stomach more than the thought of the atrocities of Gelb Schnee.

She, Blake Belladonna, owed Weiss Schnee, her life.

While no one could blame her for washing her hand of the situation, some instinct of her would not allow her to just walk away from this. This woman, whom she had every reason to hate, had selflessly risked her own safety to save her. Even if she hadn't been aware of it at the time, Weiss had saved her, and her pride refused to just let it go. It wasn't like the old days where she would be her servant for the rest of her life, but there she still needed to do something to soothe her wounded pride.

"Wish I could have at least tried that slice of pizza…" Weiss didn't quite whine, but it was close enough to make Blake give her a sympathetic smile.

"I'm sure that once they finish looking us over, they will check to see if we need anything to eat," Blake tried to offer hopefully while knowing full well that hospital food could be about as bad as survival rations, or worse since they wouldn't let you add any sauce, spices, or other things to make it taste like food.

At least rations always came with chocolate cookies with cream in the center.

Weiss seemed to mirror her thoughts about the hospital food as she let out a piteous little whimper. "Haven't we suffered enough?" she asked while looking around the room at the others that had stayed behind.

There were a few that Blake recognized, the monkey faunus and his blue-haired friend were off to one side holding their shoulders which had been braced against the table that had saved Weiss. A blonde boy that had been rather sick in the flight over was by them holding a cold water bottle to his face in hopes of lessening the swelling there, he was also holding a scrap of fabric just above the bottle. It would seem that he had gotten a nasty smack across his face from something with sharp edges.

Otherwise it was a girl who had been using tables as mallets, a black-haired boy that was fussing over her sliced leg with a deep frown using one hand while the other was cradled against his chest swelling up a nasty shade of purple. Finally, there was one face that she actually recognized, and was surprised to see in public without swarms of media flocking around her. What the hell was Pyrrha Nikos: the star of the track, field, and more of the latest cheesy action films than she cared to think about, was doing here? Shouldn't she be in Hollywood or something?

She needed someone else to confirm this, just to know she wasn't going insane and seeing things. "Weiss, is that Pyrrha Nikos over there? Helping the blondie that probably took a table leg to the face…" she asked, getting the heiress' attention and directing it to the person in question.

Weiss looked over, blinked very slowly before turning to look back at Blake. She worked her jaw a moment before speaking up. "Yes… unless we both took blows to the head."

Neither girl wanted to put that past the realm of possibility for the night, however silence grew between them as they waited their turn with the medical staff. Their thoughts eventually turned to the two who had been removed, wondering just where their roommates had gotten off to.

As it was, they were in the headmaster's office facing down a very pissed looking Glynda Goodwitch, a displeased but oddly thoughtful Ozpin, and an annoyed Elphaba Thropp. "Seriously, the Grimms just popped up out of nowhere," Yang defended as she slammed her fists into the desk before her. "What the hell happened to the ward? It's supposed to keep those bastards away from the campus, right?"

"It was taken down so we might add in the new students, including two whose magic would have had a rather volatile reaction to it should that precaution not have been taken," Elphaba snapped back sharply, glaring the blonde down with an irritated frown. "That was the reason for the social gathering in the first place, so all the students could be added at once."

"Were the wards back up everywhere else?" Ruby asked looking concerned as she glanced out the window at the campus as though expecting it to be under siege by legions of those Grimm again. However, all she saw was peace and tranquility.

"No, and that is what makes this attack all the more worrisome, someone went after the first year students, and only them. We do not know the reasoning, nor the method they are controlling the Grimm," Ozpin answered with a slightly annoyed tone to his voice. "Miss Xiao Long, I expect your patrols will be even more dangerous than anticipated. For the first few weeks, you will be accompanied by a member of the staff."

Yang looked ready to protest, but a glance from Ozpin, and a twitch of Goodwitch's crop held her tongue. "Miss Rose, you will be joining Miss Thropp in the WARD and the both of you will be reviewing any access to our wards that could have led to an attack of this magnitude. I ask that you have your weapon at the ready, because I believe that your department will be the first to be attacked should a follow-up operation occur."

Ruby still felt cheated that she wasn't out on the frontline; however the order was coming from the head of the local council, so she felt that she had to at least listen to what he was saying. The pause caused her to consider his words, and realize that though WMMR was not the glamourous and flashy position that PPGM was, it was an important and dangerous job in its own right. "Yes sir," she answered after a moment, her eyes focused on the agitated woman that had been controlling the wards. "What will happen to the others? I don't think anyone else was magical there…"

"We have ways of dealing with that; however we ask the two of you to be mindful of your classmates, magic is not without a chance of failure, and if they are showing signs of remembering tonight accurately, please inform a member of the council. We will have to figure out an alternative course," Ozpin offered with a frown as he reached out and curled his hands around his coffee mug. It looked like he had much more on his mind than what he was revealing to the girls, but they also felt that they should get used to it.

"Ozpin, we should see to the other students as well, and since their dinners were interrupted, I suggest we also find a replacement for that as well. This late at night, there are few options," Glynda cut in before other topics could be broached, her tone making sure that both girls knew that the other avenues of conversation were closed off.

"The ones going to the medical wing will be fed after they are looked over by the staff there. Please ensure that they know that their dinners were interrupted. Dr. Feelgood will want to know in particular. Those that did not require medical attention will have to do with supper in their rooms," Ozpin stated with a heavy sigh. "Miss Rose, Miss Xiao Long, I ask that you both return to your rooms and act like you are confused about the incident until one of us tell you otherwise. None of the others in your grade know of Grimm."

In a room of the dorms, a mint green-haired girl slumped down on her bed, letting out a sigh. "I'm telling you Neo, the boss should have let us know she was sending in Grimm," she groaned out as she kicked off her heels, letting them land where they may. Her arms stretched out over her head as she rubbed the dusky skin and let out a groan. "Or at least wait until we could have gotten some pizza squared away to take back with us."

Across the room, one brown and one pink eye rolled up to the ceiling as a indulgent smile crossed the girl's face. Brushing her pink and brown hair aside, she looked over at her roommate and gave her a helpless shrug. Leaning down to unbutton the sides of her boots so she could take them off, she just let her companion rant.

"Ugh, I'm hungry… they better feed us something, and give us the day off tomorrow," the chatty one continued, while flipping her long ponytail out from under her spine. "If not I'm going to rob the kitchen, want anything?"

Neo looked up with a warning look to her suddenly brown eyes, which the green-haired girl ignored as her cell went off. Picking it up, she let out a groan of dismay as she saw just who it was. "It's Roman… ugh, why doesn't he get with the times and just text you?"

"Yo, Emerald here," she answered putting the phone to her ear. As her attention was focused on him, she missed the mischievous gleam of white and pink eyes watching her. "No, it went perfect; tell the boss that I'll send her a message soon about the results. No, I still have the class roster, so our part is secure. Mercury better not screw up his part."

Listening to the other end, she rolled her crimson red eyes as her hand began mimicking a talking mouth in the air above her. "Mmhmm, yeah…" she encouraged him to continue going on as Neo stifled a laugh behind her hand, pink eyes shining with mirth. "Look, we can't talk long; they'll probably send a cover-up squad soon. Yeah, we'll 'forget' about everything until tomorrow night. I'll give Neo your love, and tell her you were worried sick about her."

The explosion of cussing caused her to lift the phone away from her ear, only to cut it off with a simple press of a button. Turning to look at Neo, she sighed as the girl flashed her a few hand gestures. It was meaningless to most, but Emerald had taught her the silent language of her former crew to keep their memory alive. "No, I'm pretty sure he might be full on narcissistic, but his reactions are too much fun to pass up. But he did ask if you were hurt, so there has to be some care there…"

Emerald closed her eyes as she let her body relax, slow and steady breaths were used as a way to calm her body to focus on the tasks at hand. She and Neo would be able to play the part of distressed students later, but for now she had to be able to deal with information, names, and observations. "Let's start reviewing the reactions of our classmates… Ruby Rose and Yang Xiao Long went exactly as expected. Did you catch what Ruby was trying to say?"

At Neo's head shake, she frowned slightly. "Damn… would have been a good addition to the report… The heiress and our little run-away were a surprise, both leapt into the fray instead of holding back… Are you writing any of this down?"

Neo tapped her pen against the paper, indicating that she was indeed taking notes. This was going to be a long night… hopefully they would bring some caffeine or something with the meals they had damn well better provide. She could feel her stomach growling hungrily from the missed meal.

"Right… so those two… the war hero's great-something or other grandson was a bit of a letdown, but I… sense potential. He might be valuable. Especially if we can get to Pyrrha through him, she would be exquisite to get," she broke of her thought as she slipped into silent musing; though her face betrayed nothing, instead looking like she was trying to recall the others of the first year students. "The two Atlasian plants seemed competent, and there were a few more potentials in the rest. Overall, I would say that we can focus our efforts on the ones specified…"

As Neo finished writing out the notes, and adding in her own comments to various people, Emerald found herself flashing back to the fight, and focusing on a single face. "Hey Neo, did the boss lady say anything about the old monarchy of Mantle? One of the first years reminded me of some pictures I saw of their old queen before the Atlas coup."

Getting a shake of Neo's head, she sighed and closed her eyes. It was entirely possible that it was a coincidence, but still… she didn't like it. She would just keep watching the student until she had proof one way or another, it wasn't like the boss needed to know about it.


	5. Nuntius

"Hey Rubes," Yang called out as she ran to catch up with her sister outside the dorms. It had been fairly quiet the past few days, and some semblance of normalcy had settled on the campus. Most of the injuries from the 'gas leak incident' had been taken care of, and the worst of them were just waiting for the body in question to mend itself properly. Apparently to college students with free health care at the school's infirmary that meant that there was no slacking in the workload.

But with normal life dominating the campus, it was easy for slightly abnormal students to carry on their not-quite normal extra-curricular activities. The patrols and wards had proven to be every bit as dull at the two had been dreading, so when Yang got a letter from home, she knew it would brighten up Ruby's day. "Check it out! Dad set us a letter."

"Mail from home?" Ruby asked as she seemed to perk up in an instant. Whirling around, she spotted the folded paper envelope holding the message from home. In an instant, she was clinging to Yang's back and trying to grab the envelope even though she made it harder on herself with the positioning. "What is it? What is it? Is he telling us about Zwei and all our friends in Patch? Did he make us barbecue?" the torrent of questions spilled out as she continued trying to grab the letter.

"Let me read it Ruby," Yang offered with a laugh as she guided the pair of them towards the stairs up to the dorms. She moved with ease, despite the extra-weight of her sister. Walking up the stairs, she opened the letter, not even noticing the various stares from the assembled students who were yet used to the sisters and their antics. Unfolding the letter inside, she began reading it out. "Dear Girls, Things in Patch are rather lonesome without you around. I would appreciate a call once in a while."

"Oh dad…" the girls groaned in unison as they both face-palmed in nearly perfect unison. It seemed that they were rather used to in his wording. "Let's see… your friends say hi… he's planning a big barbecue for our summer visit, if we go… from what he's writing, he seems to think we're taking half the school home…Oh… he said Zwei's been missing…"

"Zwei's missing?" Ruby asked with tears in her eyes as she pictured their poor lost little corgi all alone in the cold and snow, whimpering sadly as he tried to sell matches to passing pedestrians on the street. "What can we do? We can't let him starve and freeze out in the cold!"

"Nothing we can do, since we're at school," Yang explained as she walked up to Ruby's room, with a heavy sigh. "Get out your keys, we're here."

What they saw once the doors were opened defied any rational explanation, at first they were pretty sure this was some sort of spell, however a quick check showed that they were not enchanted in any way. On Weiss's bed, being pampered and coddled, petted in various ways, was one very familiar looking Corgi, panting away happily even as Weiss put pretty pink bows on his ear and gushed baby talk. "Oh you are just so precious, yes you are! You are going to love it here with me and Ruby! And you will have only the best of the best dog treats!"

Slowly, the allowed the door to close, a fairly soft clicking noise escaping as they stood just inside, staring at the heiress spoiling the dog which they had just been told had gone missing on their father. There seemed to be very little that their brain could process at the moment. Nothing seemed to possibly make sense. "Who's a good doggy? Who's a good boy? Yes you are! You are such a good doggy! We are going to be the best of friends forever! Oh yes we are! Yes we are!"

"Zwei!" Ruby cheered as she managed to snap out of her stupor first, and rushed over to the bed where the dog was being all but molested by a very eager Weiss. "Oh my god Zwei! How did you get here?"

Yang stepped in behind her sister, giving Weiss a little smile. "He's our dog," she explained with a bit of a chuckle, "Where did you find him?"

"He was sitting on Ruby's bed when I got back from classes," Weiss explained after she collected herself, seemingly shifting gears back to a more 'normal' tone of voice. "I didn't know we could have pets on campus…"

Yang watched as Zwei reached out with his nose and bumped against Weiss's hand, getting her to pet him even as Ruby held onto the spoiled little pooch. "We'll have to check in with the staff, but I'm sure something can be arranged. You may have to share him with the dorm as a whole though… lots of students probably miss their pets."

"Well… yes, of course I can understand that," Weiss agreed with a slight frown on her face. Would that mean less time for her to play with the adorable doggy? Was she not going to get him to cuddle with at night? Would she have to let others give him TREATS! Surely she could convince the sisters to let her take care of their dog for a little, but not the entire dorm.

Yang sighed as she took the dog from her sister, and began carrying him out of the room. "I'll go explain the situation to Ozpin, Ruby why don't you call dad and let him know we found Zwei."

"On it!" Ruby chirped as she pulled out her SCROLL to call her father. Weiss looked heartbroken as the corgi was being carried out, but she could see the logic in taking him to the headmaster so he knew how good and well-behaved a doggy he was. She just wished she could have done something more about ensuring he would stay in their room.

Yang left the room, closing the door behind her softly before walking across the hall and into her room, her eyes growing red as she let the two of them into her dorm. Lifting the Corgi out of her arms, she glared into its eyes and barked. "You have three seconds to explain… One…"

"Your dad sent me! He's worried about the two of you being so far from home," a deep masculine voice explained in a hurry to avoid punishment. "I got lost after getting off the ship and wandered the campus for a while. He checked, you can have pets on campus."

"Dad…" Yang groaned as she shook her head. "Alright, what's the deal? You're just going to be watching us, right?"

"Well… I am to be assisting you more than that, ritual circles, an extra snout, that sort of thing," he explained as his hind leg came up to scratch at his ear. "Much the same as at home, right? I'm just the stupid, loveable dog that everyone assumes I am."

"And?" Yang asked, knowing her father far too well for that to be it.

"And I might have to make a few… provisional contracts for you and your sister if the need arises and with your first night here… I have been scoping out the potentials. There is a swarm of them," Zwei answered with a conspiratorial wink, which was hard for the corgi's face to pull off.

"The barbecue… Ugh, Dad… hundreds of miles away and trying to play matchmaker…" Yang growled, finally lowering the dog to the ground as she moved the other hand to her forehead to rub at the stress there. "Fine, I'll plead your case with Ozpin, but you're not coming on patrol with me."

Zwei stretched out, shaking his body as though to fluff it out. "That's fine, Ruby probably needs me more with the wards," he explained before flopping down on the ground and seeming to fall asleep.

Yang was about to ask him what he was doing when the door opened, and her roommate walked in, freezing in mid-step as she saw the dog spread out on the ground before her. "There is a dog… why is there a dog?" she asked, pointing at Zwei while backing up against the door she had just walked through.

Yang raised an eyebrow at her roommate's reaction as she constantly edged away from the dust mop commonly known as a corgi. "Zwei stowed away on the ship and until Ruby and I can go home, is going to be living in the dorms. If Ozpin gives the okay… he's a good dog, and might help the students after the gas leak and hallucination incident."

"Keep him away from my stuff," she commanded as she scooted onto her bed, towards the furthest corner away from the dog that had barely even twitched since her arrival.

"I'll do my best, but no promises."

Reaching down, Yang picked up Zwei and turned to leave the room with a curious expression as she watched Blake's strange antics. Once outside, she began making her way to Ozpin's office to begin the explanation process. It was going to be an interesting night, to say the least.

Once they were along once again, Zwei whispered into her ear, leaning on her shoulder while being carried towards the office. "She seems nice…" he offered with a a slight chuckle to his deep voice.

"Did Old Spice come out with a new commercial?" someone asked through an open window, indicating that he hadn't been as quiet as he should have been. A glare from Yang had him giving her a sheepish grin as his ears laid flat against his skull in apology. She put a finger to his muzzle, indicating she would prefer it if he was silent for the time being. A moment later, she moved to scratch him under the chin.

Back at the dorm, Ruby was finishing up letting her father know about Zwei's whereabouts, and Weiss was finishing her rearranging of the room to ensure that the corgi only had the best place possible. It was right under the windows, between the two desks. It would have a lovely breeze during the summer, and during the winter he could cuddle next to the heater so his little paws would never be cold. "Dad's sending Zwei's items in the morning," Ruby explained as she closed her SCROLL.

"That's good," Weiss answered as she considered if she shouldn't add another pillow to the temporary pile. The feng shui of the room was nearly perfect, but she would have to ensure that Zwei enjoyed his new home. "Does Zwei have trouble getting up stairs with his short legs? Maybe we could get a handicap ramp or arrange for the elevator to be useable for him…"

"Not usually," Ruby answered with a simple shrug of her shoulders as she slung her hooded cape onto the back of her desk's chair. Laying down on her bed, she kicked off her shoes with a sigh. "Zwei always loves getting carried though, so he probably won't ever have to go up stairs on his own."

Weiss stood in the middle of the room, cradling her right arm in her left as she looked over the scene before her. Ruby frowned, remembering seeing her roommate with her arm soaked in red. "Hey, is your arm alright?"

"What are you talking about?" Weiss asked in honest confusion, turning to look at Ruby oddly. She had been having an odd impulse to protect her non-dominant arm since the hallucination incident with the gas leak, but she hadn't thought it was that noticeable. Perhaps Ruby was a bit more observant than she had given the girl credit for.

Ruby gave her a nervous smile as she realized she'd slipped up. She tried to think of something, anything she could say to cover this goof up, before doing what she always did when nervous: Ramble. "Well, I just saw you holding your arm and noticed that you seemed to be doing that a lot. So I thought that it might be getting cold or hurting like this old granny back in Patch who had a bad knee that would always swell up and hurt right before it rained, or something like that. She made the best cookies though, and always had a batch of them just sitting around waiting for any youngsters that would sit around and talk with her for a while. And did she ever have stories to tell!"

Weiss tuned her out after the first minute, letting the girl ramble seemed the best and only way to deal with her when she was like this. Ruby seemed to have bouts of randomly oversharing for hours on end. At least this time she wasn't trying to upgrade Weiss's alarm clock to project the numbers into the air and set off an alarm that work up the entire island again. Thankfully, that alarm was currently buried somewhere in the depths of Weiss's closet with its alarm clapper on the other side of the closet entirely.

Never. Again.

"So I didn't mean anything by it, but I was worried Weiss…" Ruby offered at the end of the rambling rant in a tone that caught the heiress's attention. It was honest about being worried, but there was something that the worry was born of more than just her caring nature.

Settling down on her bed, she slowly undid the tie holding her hair in its side-tail while she considered her answer. Picking up a brush, she began slowly working it through her long hair. "I don't even realize I do it usually, but since the incident, I have been oddly protective of my arm."

Ruby made a curious noise, indicating that she was listening, and thinking about what to say. For her energy and cheerful nature, Ruby was very reserved and timid around others that weren't Yang. However, she seemed to be warming up to the heiress, and to be fair, it was mutual. "Ruby do you wa-"

Weiss's question was cut off by a polite knocking at the door, causing Weiss to stand up and walk over to answer it. What she found on the other side of the door was surprising to say the least. "SALUtations!" the orange haired girl called out with a huge grin on her face. "My name is Penny Polendina, and I was hoping to introduce myself to the others on the floor since the gas leak incident cut the scheduled event short. I apologize for the delay as I was adjusting myself to the new surroundings, and could not convince Ciel of doing this before now. Oh! This is Ciel Soliel, my roommate. We are both from the nation of Atlas."

Weiss tilted slightly to the side to see a darker skinned young woman with short, navy-streaked black hair standing off to one side giving her a nod of greeting. She looked around the hall awkwardly, as though she wanted to be anywhere else at the moment, a sentiment that Weiss could certainly understand. "I am Weiss Schnee, and this is Ruby Rose," she answered, indicating the younger girl who had walked over during the introductory speech. The girl gave Penny a wave, looking to Weiss curiously as though looking for clues as to what she should do.

"I had believed you to be Weiss Schnee, based upon your physical appearance and the placard on the outside of your door, anyone from Atlas would recognize a member of your family. But we have agreed that it will not color our attempts to get along with you, you are your own person, and not simply a cog of your family. However, if you wish to be treated as a cog, please do inform us so that we might tailor our treatment of you."

Once more checking in with Ciel, Weiss found that she was having just about the same amount of difficulty believing some of the things coming out of Penny's mouth, but before she could respond, a soft laugh escaped from Ruby getting her attention. "Sorry, I forget you're famous sometimes Weiss…"

"That is the way I prefer it," the heiress answered honestly as she softened into a content little smile. Turning back to the eager looking Penny, she bowed her head. "Thank you for the consideration Penny, but please just treat me as any other student."

"Sensational! If you would like, we can meet up to study together sometime," Penny agreed before accepting Ciel's guiding hand on her shoulder, heading back to their room next door.

"Bye friend," Ruby offered as Weiss began to shut the door, not seeing the stiffening of Penny's body, and the suddenly worried expression on Ciel's face. Just as the door clicked shut, Penny looked back with a curious expression on her face before bowing her head as a victorious smile curled her lips upwards.

"Well… that was odd…" Weiss commented as they settled back onto their respective beds, returning to her brushing of her hair. For some reason she felt a little unnerved that she had been seen with her hair down, but she imagined that it was mostly because it had not been brushed out properly yet.

Ruby simply rested on her bed, a small smile on her face as she thought about how Weiss had handled the meeting of their neighbors. "I think she's nice, her friend is really quiet though."

"Yes, they do complement each other rather nicely, do they not?"

Ruby let out a soft laugh as she thought about it. Yes, the two did seem to work nicely together. From what they had seen in the short meeting, Ciel seemed able to reign in Penny's enthusiasm to a degree, but Penny had been able to convince Ciel to come out and meet them: which hadn't sounded like an easy feat by how Penny mentioned it. "I hope we can all get along."

Closing her eyes, she found that she could remember in detail the way Penny smiled, how her eyes seemed to always be moving around as if eager to see anything new. She could almost swear she saw a bit of a sparkle to them when Ruby had started laughing, but it was probably nothing.

Upon reopening her eyes, she found that Weiss had stepped into her closet, probably to go change into some more relaxed clothes than what she wore to class. Toying with the little scythe charm on her bracelet, she frowned as she wondered how she could get enough time to service her Foci Weapon. She'd managed to get Yang's done because it looked fairly common place broken apart, but even in its basic component parts hers was far too obviously a weapon to conceal.

Rolling up to her feet, Ruby moved to her closet and opened the hard case she had stored her baby in, running her fingers along its cool metal surface. It had been nearly two months since her last servicing, and she felt horrible about neglecting her weapon like this. She would have to find some way to get the time and space to do a proper job soon, or it would start to stress her out.

Reclosing the case, she took a deep breath as she made a silent promise to find a solution for Crescent Rose's care soon. Her darling, precious baby needed her, and she wanted to give her everything. It was so hard for her, being alone in the dark like this. She'd see about getting some training time during her classes with Professor Goodwitch next Saturday, perhaps she'd be able to help with the care and maintenance as well?

In order to take her mind off the burning worry growing in her, she decided to change into her running gear and go for a jog. Maybe she'd track down the gym and hit the weights or something; she just needed to burn off a bit of this energy. She was keeping up alright with her classes, but it often meant that she had time to sit around doing nothing.

"Weiss? Do you want to go jogging with me?" she asked in an attempt to be friendly and social with her roommate. She doubted that Weiss would join her, since she refused to even consider the morning runs, but she wanted to make an effort at least.

There was some shuffling noise from Weiss's closet, followed by a thoughtful sound before her answer came back. "Not today Ruby, I believe I wish to write to Father, and maybe call my sister."

"You have a sister?" Ruby asked curiously, finding out a new bit of information about her roommate temporarily pausing her pulling on her red hooded sweatshirt on. She leaned slightly to look out her closet and across the room so she might hear Weiss better.

Weiss peeked out with a pleased smile on her face as she saw Ruby looking at her with interest. "I do, her name is Winter and she is my elder by a few years. She is the one that helped me enroll here without the interference of Father," she answered happily, a small snowflake patterned book in her hands as she walked out looking eager to continue. "I can show you some pictures of her if you wish…"

"Sure?" Ruby offered as she tugged her hoodie down and walked over. It was weird how Weiss had mentioned her father interfering with Weiss getting a college education at one of the best schools on the planet. It wasn't her place to ask, and she figured Weiss would just get upset if she did, so she focused on what Weiss seemed to want to discuss; this was the most open that Weiss had been with her since they moved in together. Besides, how long could one little photobook take?

Weiss managed to fit a lot of pictures in the book, so many that if she didn't know better, Ruby would have sworn that she had expanded it with magic. There were a lot of pictures of her sister in her uniform, some of the two sisters sitting together in an obvious posed situation, and even a few of which Ruby was sure that Winter didn't know Weiss had taken. The ones where she was sleeping on a window seat, with the setting sun serving as a backdrop was the least troubling to her. "Have you ever thought of taking photography courses? I think they'd really like these," Ruby asked as she flipped through a couple pages while Weiss seemed distracted by one that had fallen out.

To Ruby it was just the two of them sitting together, however as she watched Weiss focus on it to the point of ignoring Ruby's question she began noticing little details. It was one of the few that didn't seem stiff and formal. Winter was laughing at something, while Weiss seemed on the verge of the same herself. Another difference was that Winter was leaning her arm around Weiss's shoulder, one of the few that the sisters were touching each other in any way. She remembered that Weiss told her that some maid had taken the photo of them.

"Weiss?" Ruby asked, trying to draw her roommate's attention. The Heiress blinked, as though returning to the waking world after a short nap. "Hey, you okay? Want to talk about it?"

A confused little frown crossed Weiss's face as she returned to the present, before giving Ruby a contented grin. "Sorry Ruby, I suppose it's just a memory. Unlike Yang and yourself, my sister and I were raised to not openly express our kinship, and… I find myself treasuring moments that you would think silly. For example, we're laughing because the maid who took the picture had just blinded one of our butlers with the flash a moment prior, and snapped this while we were laughing. It's one of the last memories I have before Winter's most recent deployment."

"Oh…" she offered, her silver eyes shining with the myriad of emotions that was storming inside her. She honestly didn't know what else to say, it was just so emotional to her. The thought of being unable to hug Yang, to not be able to feel her sister's support, it must have been horrible. But at the same time they had managed to overcome the obstacles in their way, and bonded together. "So… you miss her, huh?"

"Yes, I do," Weiss agreed, giving Ruby a quiet little smile, with just a hint of sadness in her eyes. "She's very important to me."

"Then I won't keep you from calling her. Just tell her I say 'hi', won't you?" Ruby offered with a smile as she stood up and tugged her hood up to frame her face. She wanted to sort out these emotions, and didn't know of any better way to do that.

"I will, thank you for listening to me," Weiss answered as Ruby grabbed her headphones and slipped them around her neck. She never wore them fully when running, but having music helped, so she just played them as miniature portable speakers.

Stepping out of the room, Ruby decided one thing as she picked a song at random. If she saw Yang, her sister was getting a big hug.


	6. Sed Osculum

The jog had been a good way to burn off the extra energy for Ruby, and it had only taken her three tries to find the Gym with her campus map. What she found was much more than what she had been expecting. She had expected a single squat building like she had seen from the ship bringing her in.

She did not expect a seven story complex in the center of a large valley. She could see a track area behind the main building, and a multi-use field area. She had a feeling that Yang was going to love this gym, but for now it was time for her to stay in shape, not worry about her sister.

Thankfully for her, the reception area had a map of the layout. Using it, she found that the weights she wanted to use were on the first level, directly opposite the showers which led to the pool. She would have to find the stairs up to the balcony that over looked it. She had just gotten a cute little swimsuit, so it would be nice being able to do laps when it's not nice enough to jog outside.

Apparently they even had an underground shuttle tram that she could take to the main campus. Maybe she would have to recheck the maps, since she apparently missed so much with her quick glance earlier. Pulling back her hood, she looked around and noticed that it was fairly quiet, which was fine with her since that meant no one would make fun of her for being unable to keep up with them.

Walking down to the locker room, she pulled out a slip of paper that had been in her welcoming packet. There were two sets of numbers written on it, the top one corresponded with her assigned locker. The other was her combination, which allowed her to finally get to a change of clothes and shoes meant just for working out in the gym. Also in here was her swim-wear, and a bag with her name on a tag.

Changing into her workout cloths, she moved on to the weights room, where she found two people working out. One was a red-haired girl from her classes, Pyrrha she thought, but the other was someone she'd never seen before. She was wearing something that looked like a swimsuit, but without anything around her midsection.

As she moved over to one of the machines, she heard a stack of weights settling down, without the corresponding raising. Thinking nothing of it, since one of them probably just finished up a set of reps or something, she focused on reading the safety warnings posted on the machine. She spent far too long with machines to ignore warnings like these.

"Hello… Ruby was it? You probably don't remember me, but I'm one of your classmates. I'm Pyrrha Nikos," the Amazonian celebrity offered as she walked over using a towel to dry off her hands before extending one towards Ruby. "Do you need any help with these machines? I would be happy to help."

Ruby turned to smile at her, taking the offered hand with a firm shake. "Thank you Pyrrha, but I do know how to use them. Yang and I are used to free weights though, so if you could keep an eye on me? Just to make sure I'm using it right…"

"I did not mean to imply you didn't know how to use them, sorry," Pyrrha answered as she scratched her cheek nervously. "Sure, I'll keep watch on you."

"Mind if I watch you too?" the older woman asked from across the room, while standing off of her machine, a faint sheen of sweat revealing her fairly taut abs. Ruby looked her over, trying to figure out what that wink was about, and figured it was just some sweat in her eye or something. "I'm Coco Adel, second year."

"We can all watch out for each other, but I'm going to be doing a light set today… I guess I'm a bit out of practice, and these machines are new to me," Ruby explained, missing the blush from Pyrrha as she turned to address Coco. "Thank you both for helping me though.

"Sounds good babe," Coco offered with a playful smirk as she moved to wipe down the machine she had been on. That was followed up by her grabbing a spritzer bottle and blasting down the pad before picking up another towel to wipe off the cleaner. "You look like a speedster, so lightweights and fast reps?"

"Normally, but I was taught to cross-train strength as well," Ruby defended as she slipped into a leg extension machine, adjusting it a little for her shorter legs before checking the weight setting. It looked about right, so she gave it an experimental push.

"Very good, but a little smoother on the initial push off, and slowly lower the weights," Pyrrha offered as she took up the machine in the next row. It was the one which worked the pectorals by having the person bring their arms together in front of their upper body. She gave Ruby an encouraging smile before getting into position and starting her own workout.

Aside from the sound of the machines, and a few words of encouragement from her workout partners, Ruby found the place to be fairly quiet. There was some type of music playing in the background, she couldn't quite place it, but it was nice and the beat helped her set a steady pace for her workout.

After a few machines, Ruby found herself letting her mind wander to her roommate, and the weird way that she was talking about her sister. She didn't talk about Yang like that, but was that because they were always together before the rooming mix-up, or was she a bad sister? She didn't feel like a bad sister, but Weiss seemed to be so much more passionate about Winter.

"Stare a little harder and she might catch on fire," Coco's teasing cut through her thoughts, causing her to shake her head and blink in surprise. Looking around, she found Coco's devious smile shining back to her before a single finger extended out of her fingerless gloves to point over at the machine directly opposite her. A faint blush crossed Ruby's cheeks as she saw that Pyrrha was pulling against a pulley that had her bending over, giving her a prime view of her very taut and firm backside.

Ruby squeaked, her eyes snapping up to the ceiling as the safest place to look while she tried to think of some answer, anything to respond to the teasing. While she was thinking, Pyrrha finished her rep, and turned to look at Ruby. "Ignore her; I'm afraid she's a terrible flirt. Sorry about setting up the situation, I can move an extra machine over if you want…"

"No, no, no, I was just thinking about something my roommate was talking about earlier, and just letting that play out in my head as I was working out. I didn't mean to stare, so I guess sorry about that, but you do have a very nice bottom, and I guess if I was into that, I would think it is possible that I would like looking at your bottom, but that is not to say that I don't enjoy it now, just that it wasn't my intention an-"

"Calm down Ruby," Coco stated with her hands up in a placating motion. She seemed to almost regret her earlier teasing, but it looked like she was also amused by Ruby's reaction. Pyrrha seemed to be staring at her in surprise, as though trying to figure something out about the explanation that had just been spewed out. When she was fairly sure that Coco wasn't looking, she looked over her shoulder at the wall of mirrors and glanced at her backside.

Ruby took a deep breath, lowering her eyes from the ceiling to refocus on her work out again. "Sorry, I tend to ramble at times…" she explained as she lifted the weights a few more times in slow, steady rhythm.

"It's actually a little cute," Coco answered bluntly while doing some cooldown stretches over by the far wall. "Hey, I'm going to do some laps before we have to head back, want to meet up at the juice bar by the tram station in about an hour? My treat for causing the scene."

"You don't have to," Pyrrha started to answer, while Ruby tried to figure out what a juice bar would be like. She'd only been at one bar with her Uncle Qrow once, and she didn't think that some place like that would be at a college's private tram station.

"I insist, we were having a good time, and then I made it awkward. Let me buy a juice for the two of you, we can relax and catch the last tram for the night."

"Sure, it sounds fun!" Ruby chirped, while Pyrrha reluctantly nodded her acceptance. Looking over at her, Ruby wondered why she was so resistant about this. Couldn't she just buy the next time or something? That was the normal thing to do in this situation, right? Or maybe it was because Ruby had accepted it so swiftly, while she seemed to hesitate?

Had Ruby made her seem rude? She hadn't intended to do that, or maybe she had put Pyrrha on the spot, and now the girl felt bad about accepting, and didn't actually want to go.

"Thank you Coco," the red haired girl offered after a moment, bringing Ruby back from her rambling thoughts in time to see the brunette slipping out the door with a wave her hand. Hearing a sigh from next to her, she looked over and saw her classmate settling into another machine and just sitting there for a moment. Before she could ask, the other girl began speaking. "I'm sorry; I guess I'm too used to people trying to buy me things because I was a celebrity."

"You're famous? Oh no! I'm sorry, I didn't recognize you! Umm…" Ruby tried to rack her brain for where Pyrrha might have been famous from. Her panic grew as she realized that she couldn't place her, the panic led to embarrassment, which apparently showed to Pyrrha, who gave her a patient smile.

"I was big in the athletic circles, maybe you saw me on Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes?" she suggested helpfully, her face seeming to brighten as Ruby continued to fail to recognize her.

Ruby shook her head, with an annoyed sigh. "No, dad never let us get that sugary ju-uhh…"

"I know it wasn't healthy, but it was kinda cool to have my face of the box," Pyrrha answered with a warm smile towards the struggling girl. "I don't mind if you don't know me from back then. Sometimes I wonder if I even knew me back then."

"How can you not know yourself?" Ruby asked in confusion as she tried to follow her line of thought. It just sounded so weird to her. She was herself, and that was all there was to it. "You're Pyrrha Nikos, right? That's all there is to it."

Pyrrha seemed to try and explain a few times, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly before finally a helpless smile spread on her face and she just shook her head slowly. "Apparently I'm getting a work out for my mind as well," she stated with a chuckle to her voice. "That is a very good outlook to have Ruby; I suppose I may have been over thinking things."

Ruby smiled as she seemed to have actually helped Pyrrha with her thoughts on things. She'd been told many times growing up that her thoughts often cut through problems like her scythe would slice through air. It always felt good to know that she helped to decimate someone's problems with extreme prejudice. Almost as good as letting loose on those Grimms back during the party. "Thanks Pyrrha, if you ever need someone to under think things, talk to me or Yang!"

At the crimson haired amazon's laugh, she paused awkwardly while reviewing what she'd said. A blush spread over her cheeks as she sunk down in her seat as she realized just what she implied about her and her sister just then. "That is…"

"Sorry Ruby," Pyrrha cut in with a sheepish grin on her face. "But you have to admit it was a rather… unique way of putting it."

"Yeah… I guess…" she answered while messing with the lower hem of her shirt, she felt kinda foolish about the way she had answered Pyrrha, it wasn't even the laughter that had followed, just the things she said without thinking bothered her at times.

"Have you had a tour of the gym complex?" Pyrrha asked, trying to distract Ruby from the thoughts that were upsetting her. "We could knock off early today and I can show you around if you'd like."

"Sure, I guess we could," Ruby agreed, having lost some of the drive she had to work out. She'd need a shower before much else, but she could do the tour after that. Fifteen minutes later, she was back in her red hoodie watching as Pyrrha leaned over and used a towel and a wall mounted air blower to dry out her long hair.

"Sorry this takes so long, it's gets all stinky if I don't clean it out properly though," the red-head explained while taking a brush to try and tame her mane back into its usual ponytail.

"It's okay, Weiss takes forever doing her hair, so I've been curious what girls with long hair do when they're not Yang," Ruby answered watching the whole thing while sitting on a bench with her sweatshirt pulled down over her legs. "She just lets it dry and then it's all curled and tangled. But she looks so cool, not that your hair isn't cool, it's just… she's Yang."

"I would like to meet her sometime, she sounds fun. Or maybe that blonde boy you two were talking to on the boat…" she mused, with a hint of a question in her voice as she straightened up, shifting the mass of hair to line up with her spine. This set Ruby's mind spinning, trying to remember who she might know that fit the description.

After a minute, she came up with the only possible person. "Oh, you mean vomit boy!" she exclaimed, before clamping a hand over her mouth and looking thoroughly embarrassed. "Ah, that's not his name, it's just… he was getting sea sick, and we never caught his name. He seemed nice, but…"

"No, that's fine; I was just hoping you'd know his name, since you were helping him back to the sick bay," she tried to explain with a slight blush growing on her cheeks as she seemed to try and find some new way to find out his name.

Ruby watched the blush growing, her mind filling in the blanks and getting some sort of picture together. "I think I saw him hanging around in the lounge area with the guy with a pink streak in his hair…"

"Ren? My roommate Nora is his friend from childhood, I could ask them," she mused as she tugged her way into the arm warmers that were a part of her outfit, smoothing down the fabric gently before giving Ruby a warm smile. "Shall we?"

"Yeah!" Ruby agreed happily as she hopped off the bench. Her boundless energy seemed to cause her to bounce in spot as she beamed happily at Pyrrha. It was nice that someone was going to take time to show her around the place. It was a lot bigger than their house and in many ways bigger than Patch, so she was very worried about getting lost. If she knew at least a few of the buildings and how to get between them, she should be fine.

"I suppose we should start with the top and work our way down to the tram station, is that alright?" Pyrrha asked as she moved towards the exit, Ruby practically skipping behind her. A few floors later, she was surprised at how well Ruby was holding up, despite doing several reps with the leg machines, and walking up all those steps, she was seemingly fresh as a daisy. She wished she had that type of energy.

The tour was swift and for the most part uninteresting to an outside observer. There was rooms for racketball, a basketball court, an indoor volleyball court, a place for running when the weather was not acceptable, a martial arts dojo of sorts, a meditation room, a small store with school logo encrusted clothing and water bottles, a viewing area to watch the outdoor fields, and then came the balcony overlooking the pool. Or rather pools.

There were two full Olympic swimming pools next to each other, one with lane lines to mark off the lap lanes while the other was left open. The one that caught Ruby's attention had several warning labels around it, and a multi-layered diving board that came up nearly level with the balcony three floors up from the pool. From the balcony, she couldn't see the bottom of the water, but she imagined it had to go nearly twice as deep below ground. "Woah… this is so cool!"

"Yes… they really went all out on the pool area; however the football pitch, the American football field, and ice rinks are just as impressive in their own rights. But I don't think we'll have time to visit those today. Sorry," Pyrrha explained, leaning against the safety banister, pointing to where a single form sliced through the water with powerful ease. "Look, there's Coco, we can tell her we saw her."

Ruby looked out over the pools with a starry-eyed expression of joy as she saw the swimming area she had to enjoy for the next few years. "This is so awesome! Thank you Pyrrha!" she chirped happily, hearing the splashing of the water below, smelling the Chlorine filled air, and feel her own excitement bubbling up in her chest.

The pair watched as Coco flipped at the end of the lap and shot off the wall back towards the other end. If Ruby had to guess, she would think that Coco had been in a swim club sometime in the past. She was smooth, graceful, and powerful with every stroke. "Do you swim Pyrrha?"

"Yes, though not since coming here, I had to pose as a swimmer for a movie, and they had me training with an Olympic athlete for a few months. I learned so much from her, it was an amazing experience, and I still write to her from time to time," Pyrrha explained with a small smile as they both enjoyed the scene before them.

"You were in a movie? Which one? Maybe I can find it and see you in it!" Ruby gushed while the eagerness continued to build for her. She would find out a lot more about her new friend, and stop being so awkward and weird about everything.

"Oh, that's fine Ruby, you don't have to look for it. They gave me copies of the movies I was in, you can borrow them if you want. Maybe make a movie night of it with your sister," Pyrrha offered, feeling horribly awkward and grateful at the same time. It wasn't until she saw that Ruby had turned her starry-eyed gaze onto her that she began to regret some of what she said.

"Movies? As in multiple? Oh wow! Do you want to watch with me and Yang? We can have popcorn, and soda, and chips, and chocolates, and candies, and make a marathon of it, I can invite Weiss and Blake too, maybe Nora, Ren, and his roommate, and we can all just have a fun night of movies and goofing off…" Ruby began to ramble as she continued to fairly vibrate with excitement and eagerness to celebrate her friend's talents.

"Ah, no sorry Ruby, I don't believe that it would be a good idea to impose on everyone's time, besides it was only like three movies. I was mostly just an extra in some scenes of two of them. But if they would like to gather to watch other movies, I would be willing to join."

"Oh, right, I guess with as young as you are, you wouldn't have many movies, but it's still pretty awesome, isn't it? Did you get to hang out with famous actors and actresses as well?" Ruby asked, managing to rein it in a little bit. There were faint noises that had her looking around cautiously for Grimm, even though her senses didn't detect their magical disruption. Thankfully, Pyrrha was busy looking out over the pool and so she missed the antics of Ruby's "search" routine.

"I suppose you could say that, Spruce Willis treated me like his daughter, and taught me some neat things in the movie we worked on together. Singe-orangey Weaver also seemed to like joking around with me off-camera. It was a silly little action movie about fighting giant alien bugs invading the Earth, but I got to fire a fake Gatling cannon, so that was pretty cool," Pyrrha answered with a fond smile as she recalled the weeks spent on that shoot. It wasn't until Ruby failed to ask any follow-up questions that she realized that her conversation partner had fallen silent. Turning to look at the girl, she was surprised to see her looking at her in awe. "Are you a fa-"

"YOU GOT TO SHOOT A GATLING CANNON!? WHICH ONE?!" Ruby gushed with an eagerness that seemed to have forgotten any type of propriety. The fact that she seemed more thrilled about the gun than the actors she got to hang out with made Pyrrha laugh for some reason.

Regaining herself, she put a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "It was just a silly little prop that they made to look like it shot lasers, one of the aliens had it on their ship and I got to use it as a mounted gun turret at the end of the movie. They even had a few explosions going off throughout the entire scene, but I think the spear and shield from when I was a gladiator trainee in the other movie looked cooler."

"Oh my gosh, I have to see these movies now!" Ruby cheered happily as she pumped her arms, the clattering of claws on tile from earlier all but forgotten. "I'll be sure to keep an extra sharp eye out for you."

"You do not have to, but thank you," Pyrrha offered with a pleased smile on her face. It would seem that having Ruby around would be entertaining if nothing else. She seemed to have an eagerness that was infectious; almost making her want to do some more of those things she'd done in the movies just for her to see, or maybe see if she could find some of the prop shells from the laser thingie. She'd probably enjoy that a bit more.

"You're welcome," Ruby offered with a huge, open smile on her face. Looking back down at the pool, she spotted Coco pushing herself out of the water. The water slid off her toned body like silk, returning to the pool with barely a ripple to mark where she had been.

"We should get going, we have a couple floors more to tour before meeting her for drinks," Pyrrha pointed out as she stepped away from the balcony, heading for the doorway downstairs. Ruby lingered for a moment longer before shaking her head to clear it from the strange sensation that she felt tickling at the edges of her senses. Perhaps she should have Yang check this place out before doing too much working out. She kept getting the feeling that something was going on, but she couldn't seem to pin it down.

The rest of the tour was a room with martial arts room with padded walls and floor, the storage room, and what Pyrrha explained was a medical room, just in case. It looked simple enough, a table to put the injured person on, and enough medical supplies to take care of them until they could leave or were picked up to go to the doctor's. The Sports Medicine Attendant was a nice young lady who seemed happy that someone was visiting when they weren't dealing with a sprained body part or other.

Since they were to meet at the station, the Amazonian teenager led Ruby down a set of stairs near the back of the building, heading down several sets that doubled back before reaching the platform floor. "What do you think Ruby? Is it as good as you thought it could be?" Pyrrha asked while turning back to address her properly.

Just as the teen was about to answer, she missed a step and jerked forward, towards her new friend. A short cry of warning and fear was all they had before the two of them smacked into each other with the help of gravity. This was both good and bad for a few reasons.

First was the fact that Pyrrha helped to keep the smaller teen from hurting herself, and neither one actually took a fall to the floor. However, due to the height difference, Ruby fell into the taller girl's arms, and their lips pressed together. Usually, this would just be an embarrassing coincidence that they would both be mortified with embarrassment over later, maybe even make tentative jokes about it somewhere down the line. However, a somewhat familiar glow surrounded them, bathing them in tender yellow light, while a deep bass voice called out, "Pactio complete, oh yeah."

The light flared brighter around the two of them, eventually fading into the normal lighting of the small room at the base of the stairs before they walked out onto the station proper. In fact, if not for a single difference, they could have both gone happily on their way pretending that kiss and the surrounding weirdness was just exhaustion and nerves.

However, a card floating between them with Pyrrha in gleaming bronze armor, holding a javelin and a circular shield put that hope into a deep grave to never surface again. "Okay Pyrrha, I need you to remain calm, not panic, and trust me."

"I… wha… tha…" the Amazonian tried to answer, honestly she did, but her brain seemed to be shorting out a little bit. "That's me?"

"Yes… it's called a Pactio card. We have to keep it a secret until we can get to my sister, okay?" Ruby stated calmly plucking the card out of the air and slipping it into her SCROLL swiftly. Checking the display screen, she frowned as it showed a lack of bars this deep underground. "I promise we'll explain everything. But we can't tell Coco or anyone else. Okay?"

"Yeah… okay… I feel like I can trust you to be honest with me about this… why do I feel that? I barely know you…"

"That's part of the Pactio," Ruby explained while opening the door behind the taller redhead, looking around to see if anyone had seen anything. As it was relatively empty, she motioned for her to follow along. "I won't abuse it, because I don't think I can… but the card makes it harder for us to lie about anything to each other. Someone set up a trap and we fell into it; that means there are other magic users around. I need to tell Yang, and there's no reception down here."

"We can take the shuttle tram back to school, it lets us off about a block from the student dorms, but there is the small fact that the next one isn't for another half-hour," Pyrrha replied as she moved a couple steps away from Ruby, rubbing the upper hem of her arm warmers.

"Then there's plenty of time for that juice I promised!" a new voice cheered as Coco emerged from the landing of accidental magic, carrying a corgi that leaped into Ruby's arms. "I saw that guy on the stairs, and decided to give him a lift. His tags said to return to Ruby or Yang, so… Zwei's your pet?"

"Yeah, but he's probably going to end up as the dorm mascot or something," Ruby explained as she held onto the plump corgi while stroking his ears. "Long story, but basically he ran away from home, stowed away on the student ferry, and found his way to the dorms. We're going to try and take him back on the first break, but until then Yang was supposed to be getting him squared away with the office. I guess he got away again…"

"Weird…" Coco mused while looking over the dog. "So Zwei huh?"

"It's short for Arfur Barktholomew Woofington the Second," Ruby answered while Zwei let out a whimpering sort of whine, until Pyrrha reached over and scratched him between the ears. "Sorry Zwei, just telling them. Yang named him when we first got him, but now it's only when he's in trouble that he's called that."

"Very good to note Miss Rose," a stern voice stated as the sound of a cane clacking against the station tile sounded. Turning as one, the trio saw Professor Ozpin standing there sipping a mug of something just outside of the juice bar. "I believe that you and Miss Nikos should see me in my office as soon as we get back to school. And bring Mister Arfur Barktholomew Woofington the Second if you please."

The way Zwei's ears flattened at the addition to his name seemed to suggest that he knew that there was more than the usual trouble of eating the entire side of beef before the others could enjoy the barbeque, not that any of the three girls noticed. Two just knew they were in trouble, and one wanted to desperately avoid drawing attention to herself.

"Do try something cool, I believe there is already enough hot water to go around," Ozpin stated as he waved for them to continue onto the juice bar, walking over to the station proper to wait for the tram's arrival.


	7. Permissum Mihi Persolvo

Ruby was sweating bullets as she stood next to Pyrrha in front of Professor Ozpin; Zwei had been confined to a cage that had been pulled seemingly out of the floor and was right next to the professor's chair. She didn't know why he was being punished, but thought it was more a punishment for her. Two chairs emerged out of the floor behind the girls, startling both of them to whirl on them in shock. "Please, have a seat… we have a lot to discuss."

As the girls settled into the offered chairs, Ozpin sipped his coffee and regarded them quietly with his normally soft brown eyes hard and focused on them. After a moment, he set the mug of coffee down and took a deep breath. "To begin with, Miss Nikos, I'm afraid that you are now irreversibly entangled in something that could potentially kill you. It is something that Miss Rose has lived with since birth, but we need to cover the basics. Miss Rose, I will be talking with Glynda about expanding your lessons to include training time with your new partner, but for now let's cover a basic primer of what has occurred."

"Whoever set the circle of magic that you… performed the ritual in," he commented while a twinkle of mirth sparkled in the back of his eyes, before it was back to business. "We will be dealing with that as soon as possible, however the matter concerning Miss Nikos is more important."

"Professor Ozpin, I-" Ruby tried to chime in to take the blame onto herself, only for the silver haired man to continue speaking.

"Neither of you are currently in trouble, but there is much to cover. Miss Rose, Ruby… please tell Pyrrha what you are," Ozpin finished softly, coaxing her to speak on her own behalf after overriding her.

"I am… a magic user, commonly referred to as a mage," Ruby answered after a brief moment, drawing a confused sound from her partner for the foreseeable future.

"There are several on the staff that are also magic users, and will help you in learning to control the new abilities that have been awakened in you. And yes, awakened, not implanted," Ozpin stated at the curious look from both of the younger girls before him. Chuckling, he leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers in front of his chest. "Unlike what is taught in most classes, those without magic are generally not completely without magic; just rather it is locked for unknown reasons. It is the primary reason that Pactios are even possible with them in the first place. As in the case we find ourselves facing."

"Woah… umm… sorry, but that's a lot to take in… what new abilities? What's going on?" Pyrrha asked quietly as she looked between the two of them with growing nervousness. Neither seemed the type to pull this type of prank, so she felt that it was safe to believe them. But this was ludicrous.

"We're not sure, probably something on the card Miss Rose carries," Ozpin answered, pointing to where Ruby had her SCROLL sticking out, the tip of the card just visible. "But I believe that is something to explore in a more robust location."

Ruby smiled nervously as she pushed the SCROLL and card deeper into her pocket, causing Ozpin to nod his head before continuing. "We will arrange for you to get a device similar to the one Miss Rose and Miss Xiao Long carry called a SCROLL which holds an almost encyclopedic database of the majority of the knowledge on magic. It should help with much of your training. The rest will be covered by your instructors."

"Another effect of the Pactio process is an… unlocking of certain memory alteration spells, for example, what happened on your first night at college," Ozpin explained as Ruby shifted in her seat to move closer to Pyrrha.

As flashes of creatures attacking, of her stabbing them, of them vanishing, a strange sense of warmth and support washed over her. It felt like a hug to her mind, with Ruby's soft voice telling her that she was safe now. "We were attacked… by… by… monsters?" she answered after the initial panic subsided, leaving her only with confusion and a bit of fear.

"The correct term is Grimm; they are extra-planar beasts that attack seemingly at random," the headmaster explained while a frown creased his lips. "They are highly dangerous, and the small force that slipped in during your first night was just a sample of their danger. Someone was using our lowering of the wards to test something, and I worry what that might be."

"I'm sorry but did you say testing something? We almost died!" Pyrrha pointed out as she looked between the headmaster and the girl that had somehow dragged her down into this insanity. "Not only that, but why were you lowering the wards if they're that important? This is just a lot to take in, but it feels to me that there are many things being overlooked here."

"Yes, testing, but perhaps probing out defenses would be more accurate. Much like one might when sieging an enemy stronghold," Ozpin countered neutrally as he lifted his coffee and looked into it. "I do not know what they were seeking to find, but there had to be a magic student for multiple years to learn we only lower our wards when new students are arriving so we might add them in without… unpleasant incidences."

"Pyrrha, I know this is a lot to take in, but the wards are a strong defensive magic, and by adding us into it, we are granted their protection. If they were up when they were adding people in, it would draw a lot of magic from each student, some to the point they would pass out," Ruby tried to explain, not really being an expert, but having many of the same questions answered from her nights spent with Professor Thropp tending to the wards.

Pyrrha looked at her as though seeking answers and security, some type of foundation to cling to in the endless stormy sea she had been thrown into. After a moment, she seemed to relax as a sigh escaped her lips. "I… I'm sorry, but this is just so much to take in. Grimm, the glowing circle-"

"Pactio Ritual Circle," Ozpin chimed in helpfully.

"That… finding out about magic, wards, and whatnot, it just… my head is spinning, and I don't know what to think right now," she continued as she put her face into her hands. "Can… Is there anything we know about the people that attacked us? Why would they do this Pactio thing to us?"

As Ruby blushed deeply and looked away, Pyrrha turned to see Ozpin smiling at her like an indulgent grandfather, letting out a chuckle of amusement. "The Pactio ritual is to bring two people in to a greater harmony by mingling their magic auras together and making them stronger. There is nothing threatening about it. I believe it is safe to presume that the two are unrelated."

"I… I'm sorry, I suppose I was being rude," she offered, looking down. She shouldn't have assumed it was something evil, not with how warm and safe it felt. And suddenly, a new warmth spread out from her hand, joining from the increasingly familiar kindness from the implacable bond she had been trying to track down.

Looking down, she found Ruby's hand on her own. As the smaller hand squeezed her calloused hands, she found a smile spreading on her face as she looked up at the silver eyes watching her. "Not rude, you were scared and reacting because of that."

"I believe that you should both talk about this more in private, however Miss Rose, I believe there is someone else that you should talk with, don't you Mr. Woofington?" Ozpin stated, as he turned towards the Corgi currently watching them with his ears flat to his skull.

Pyrrha and Ruby were both about to protest Zwei being able to talk, when he finally opened his mouth and spoke in a voice that had cried out when the Pactio had been completed. "I will only say that the girls will make good mates, and I regret nothing."

'Okay, so that was something new, but surely it was perfectly normal for Ru-,' the sudden thud of the caped girl hitting the ground as she fell out of her chair. The shocked, horrified look on her face as she pointed an accusatory finger at the corgi spoke volumes for how shocked she appeared to be. To be honest, the fact that a dog could talk was just a minor hiccup for her today, so the reaction to it seemed a bit extreme, but she wasn't about to point that out.

It was extremely cute after all.

"Yes Ruby, I can talk. I came to this school in order to help you. I learned about the troubles you had during your first night and thought I'd give you a Pactio partner to make sure you've got someone at your back. Forgive me Miss Nikos, I had actually not expected it to be you in the circle, but I believe you will be a very powerful and capable partner if you pursue it," Zwei explained, a somewhat serious expression crossing his face before its natural silly look took over again. "You have always been my best friend Ruby, and I would do anything to help you."

Pyrrha watched as Ruby seemed to grow teary eyed and reach out to the caged corgi, making her wonder if the girl was a fan of a few anime shows she'd seen, there was even rose petals fluttering in the background. Wait, did Professor Ozpin just pick a petal out of his coffee?

Blinking, Pyrrha reached out to some of the petals drifting past her, catching a few in her hands while Ruby made some impassioned speech to Zwei about how he was such a wonderful pet, and friend. She couldn't even pretend to focus on that speech as she was looking at Ozpin while the rose petals faded and disappeared from her hand. He shook his head and gave her a kindly smile of understanding. It would seem that there was going to be a lot of moments like this in her life to come.

After a bit of gushing, and more petals, Ozpin cleared his throat. "Regardless of that, Miss Nikos, I would suggest taking a moment to enroll with the Workplace And Research Department. They have many documents and resources to help you, and I believe that Professor Thropp has access to some of the latest models of Scrolls for you."

"Thank you sir," Pyrrha offered with a smile while trying to process everything. There was just a lot to take in, and she really just wanted some time to let it settle and review. Something that Professor Ozpin seemed to recognize as he stood up.

"Now the two of you have a lot to think about, so I believe that it's time to go to your dorms and rest for the night. If you have any questions, please feel free to stop by my office, or talk with Professor Goodwitch. Miss Rose, if you would leave Mr. Woofington here, he and I have some more matters to talk about," he stated with a warm smile, though the tension around his eyes suggested that arguing was not a good idea. Ruby lowered Zwei to the ground, who went back into the kennel and seemed to try and hide away.

The pair of girls left the office rather rapidly, going straight to the dorms with the darkness of night creeping up on them. Just before they parted ways for the night, Pyrrha pulled out her phone. "Could I get your number Ruby? That way we can talk, or arrange to meet up…"

"Oh! Yeah," Ruby agreed, pulling out her Scroll as well. Typing in Pyrrha's name, she rattled off her number. After the exchange, Ruby turned to go back to her room, only for a gloved hand to reach across the hall to reveal a tensely smiling blonde girl grabbing Ruby by the shoulder.

"Hello!" Yang sang out happily as she waved to Pyrrha with her free hand. "We need to talk sis."

Once Ruby and her sister had disappeared into the room, Pyrrha turned to go inside her own room, smiling as she found Nora sitting on the bed playing on her phone. "Hello Nora, sorry my session at the gym ran long, did you eat yet?"

"Nope!" Nora chirped as she looked up with a huge grin, "We can go whenever, Ren said he and his roommate would wait for my message and we can eat together!"

Pyrrha did not develop an instant blush at that, she did not. The red from her cheeks was just from having to go to Professor Ozpin's office, having her first kiss end up in something she couldn't talk about, and absolutely nothing to do with the mention of a certain scrawny blonde with a nice backside. Not in the least, nope. "What is his roommate's name again?" she asked, trying to sound casual as she dropped off her new reading material into her desk drawer.

"Jaune? Did we really never introduce the two of you yet? Oh god, I feel horrible now! Right, well I can give you a quick rundown before we meet up with the boys," Nora started before taking a deep breath and beginning to tick off points on her fingers as she stood up. "He's a farm boy from the mainland, and has seven sisters. His mother runs the farm, while his father as a tailor for the area. He applied to Beacon as a joke since his Counselor at the school he attended said he'd never amount to anything if he didn't shoot for the best. He doesn't know how he got accepted, but he wants to try and go into business or be more famous than his great-something or other grandfather…"

Pyrrha held up her hand, letting out a soft laugh. "Thank you Nora, but some of the fun of meeting new people is getting to know them… just…"

"No, he isn't a fan of yours," she answered with a small smile. "He never had much time for movies, and he grew up in a rather isolated area. I don't think he's going to be a fanboy."

"Thank you Nora, sorry for cutting you off like that," the Amazonian offered with a sigh of relief. She had been a little hesitant of making friends since coming to the college, because the majority either were fans or wanted to use her fame for their own gains. But Nora and Ren had opened her to the chance that others just wanted to be her friend, and Ruby seemed to be a pure ray of sunshine given human form in that regards. So maybe she could keep her little cru- appreciation for Jaune.

Nora smiled as she stood up, bouncing on the balls of her feet as her phone chimed that her message had been responded to. Looking down, Nora beamed happily as she moved towards the door happily. "Jaune and Ren will meet us in the lobby and we can go get dinner! Come on, let's go!"

While Pyrrha was dragged along towards the cafeteria, Ruby was being planted on her sister's bed. "Welcome back, now I'm sure you have a lot of questions, so I am going to give you answers. You have just formed a Pactio by kissing someone," Yang began explaining with a huge, shit-eating grin on her face.

"I kno-" Ruby began to answer, only for Yang to speak over her.

"Now you must be filled with new and interesting feelings after the Pactio, so let your big sister put all the doubts in your mind to rest. You only form a provisional Pactio until you're a proper adult, so no need to think about getting married just yet. You can have multiple partners, but try to keep it under control. Also, if you keep kissing girls, we need to have a different talk. Do we need to have a different talk?"

"How do you know about it?" Ruby asked as she blushed a red that was nearly as deep as her namesake. Then her eyes widened as she realized the most obvious answer. "You told Zwei to do it! You tricked him!"

"Nope!" Yang answered with a huge grin on her face. "I just suggested that maybe you could use some help finding partners."

"You… that…" she tried to respond as her mouth tried to work out some response to what Yang had done. She was so confused and infuriated that she couldn't even find a way to answer to what her sister had been up to.

"Yeah, well it's in part that I want to make sure you're stronger while protecting the ward, but mostly it's to mess with you."

Ruby sprang off the bed and tackled her sister at that confession, a dust cloud swiftly obscuring them from view. Thankfully Yang had known this would probably happen, so had asked Blake to clear things away so nothing of hers got damaged while the sisters brawled.


	8. Ventus Vigilate

There were millions of things students at Beacon Academy could be doing on a Friday night. They could go to the nearby city of Vale, which hosted dozens of establishments that could they could party, watch movies, or just escape from their roommates for a night. There were restaurants that never closed with reasonably priced food and bottomless cups of drinks. There were clubs at the school which would have weekends full of activities from gaming, to stargazing, to performing on stages.

None of these were the things that Ruby and Pyrrha were doing however, they were both set in front of large monitors, watching them with matching bored expressions as little icons turned green, yellow, or red. "Looks like Yang's patrol path is currently on schedule," Ruby commented darkly as she licked at the healed split on her lip from the fight she and her sister had. Magic was useful for keeping things like that secret from those who would ask too many questions, such as roommates, professors, or police.

"At least that means she isn't running into Grimm, right?" Pyrrha tried to bring her partner out of her funk, giving her a nervous smile. Ruby had told her about Yang's part in the plan, and after clarification and confirmation, Pyrrha could understand Ruby's anger, but this was a bit more than she expected.

Ruby sighed and shook her head. "Yeah, I know, it's just… she gets to be out there, and we're stuck here watching screens!" Ruby whined as she turned slightly to check a third monitor. "We should be getting some more dust in tonight, topping them off is easy, so it's going to be boring and quiet…"

"I'm sorry, but isn't that a good thing? That means the students are safe, right?" Pyrrha offered hopefully as she pulled up the information on an icon that had turned yellow, smiling as it showed a feed of a group of cats on the prowl near one of the farms. "So a quiet, boring night for us is a good thing for people, right?"

"Yeah, it's just… I'm just pissed off at Yang," Ruby admitted while pulling up information on another yellow alert. It was just a couple students sneaking beer on campus, the muscle heads on the football team would be in trouble if the campus cops caught them, but nothing to worry about.

"Why don't we report things like that? Or just mention the little trail to campus police?" Pyrrha asked curiously as she watched the group, recognizing Cardin since he'd bugged her, and several other girls, since they'd arrived on the island.

"Aside from the fact we have much more important things to worry about, I don't think there's anything really wrong going on. Since they bought the alcohol legally, I hope, they're able to drink it since the island's drinking age is 18 for things like beer and wine," Elphaba explained as she walked in, carrying a trio of glass bottles filled with glowing neon purple liquid. "Some energy potions if you're feeling tired, all natural."

"Thanks…" Ruby offered, looking slightly worried at the glowing liquid that was set before her, while a twin was placed next to Pyrrha. There was one thing you learned early on about potions, something that she tried to warn Pyrrha about as she popped the cork and downed the potion with a trusting expression of one that had never had them before.

The look on her face as she gagged, tears streaming down her face as the thick sludge passed her tongue and informed her of a new level of disturbing flavors that it could experience at the moment. Sliding over the trashcan that had been placed between the two of them, she turned away to give Pyrrha the chance to gag and try to expel the taste in privacy. It took a lot of work to get used to the taste of potions, but it did have a lot of benefits that modern medicine might lack.

"Ugh… sorry that was like trying to drink the entire bag of syrup from a grape soda machine that was sitting out for a week in the sun…" Pyrrha offered as she wiped her mouth with a napkin that Ruby passed over silently.

"I tried to warn you… potions are pure concentration of natural elements, so the flavors are a little… intense…" she offered while patting the girl on the back. "I normally mix mine into tea or water or something."

"Yes, forgive me, I forgot you were not raised around magicals," Elphaba offered as she poured a shot of the potion into her coffee and took a sip, only grimacing slightly. "If they ever find a way to make them taste better, I think there could be a revolution to put them in charge of the entire magical society."

"Or at least rich enough to buy half the planet," Ruby muttered as she tucked the potion into her bag for later. She might need it to survive the early morning lessons with Goodwitch tomorrow. Pyrrha followed her example with the rest of her potion, and as the energy washed over her, vowed silently to never let Nora near these. The girl had enough energy as is.

Returning to her job, she looked over the display before poking at a yellow icon rather near the school. "Professor Thropp? There's a van pulling up to the WARDepartment…" she called out in confusion as she tried to get a better look at the emblem on the side of the van. "Old Man Cleaners: Dust Specialist? Why would cleaners be coming here this late at night?"

"Oh, that's the guys that deliver the dust to us," Ruby commented as Elphaba pushed her chair back and made to go accept the delivery.

"Ms. Rose you can load the dust into the system and get a reading for what we will need next week, Nikos if anything pops up as a code black, get either of us immediately. Otherwise you should be able to manage, just look at what catches your interest."

Pyrrha nodded as she shifted the view back to the main screen, while Ruby pushed away from the desk to head out to get the delivery. It didn't sound like either job was really that difficult, but maybe you needed to have certain training in magic to read the dust levels or something. Besides, having someone on duty for the protection of the students was important too.

Ruby gave her Pactio partner a smile as she tried to offer a hapless shrug over the empathic link that they shared as part of the Pactio. She wasn't really sure what would go across the link or not. But she thought it was a nice idea to at least try. "I'll be back in about a half-hour," she explained before jogging to catch up to Elphaba who was moving with a crisp, steady pace to get the delivery over with.

As the adult went to deal with the driver and paperwork, Ruby moved to the back of the van, expecting to have to unload it herself as normal, however she was surprised to find a somewhat familiar mop of blond hair sliding the cases of dust onto a wheeled hand-truck. "Oh hey! You're the girl from the boat," he offered with a slightly goofy smile. "Sorry for barging in on you and your sister like that, I'm Jaune."

"Ruby," she offered with a smile as she helped him unload the rest of the cases, being a bit more careful than he had been. "I didn't know you worked with Old Man's."

"Yeah, just got hired today, Mr. Green broke his left leg last week, and I was helping him with some shopping last weekend. He offered me a job, and here I am… bit weird to deliver dust to places, but he said it was a special dust. Eh, it's a job so I don't ask too many questions," Jaune explained while nodding to the driver, a balding old man who was explaining the changes to the usual procedure to the pale skinned teacher.

Getting the wave to proceed, Ruby took the cart from Jaune and moved to go load it into the system. "We actually help keep the environment clean by using this dust," Ruby explained while they walked over to the security door. She'd have to leave him outside while she loaded up and took the readings, but he seemed interested in the system.

Jaune for his part was looking at the building, since he hadn't been to this end of the campus yet, save for the tour he took back in the first week. "That's kinda cool. So, what does this department use the dust for?"

"Oh, we power the security system," Ruby explained, remembering the explanations she'd been told to give if someone asked questions. Thankfully she had explained her inability to deal with people under pressure early on to Elphaba, and the woman had given her a list of stock answers that while not lying didn't actually give away anything.

Getting to the door, she looked at Jaune with a sheepish grin before nodding to the pinpad next to the door. "Sorry, but umm…"

"Yeah, no problem, I'm going to check on the old man. His wife told me to make sure he didn't push himself too hard," he answered before turning away with a wave of his hand.

Ruby watched him leave for a couple seconds, scanning the area for anyone watching her. As there wasn't really anyone else around, she turned to the pinpad and placed her hand over it, using her thumb to press buttons. Honestly, it didn't matter what buttons she pressed, because it was her fingers on the magical receptors sending out pulses of energy that was doing the unlocking. However, she had found out that she could play the start of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star on the pad if she hit the right buttons.

With a soft pop, the door opened, allowing her inside. Pushing open the door, she slid the cart inside before ensuring that it closed after her. The door hissed softly as it sealed the room with her inside, so she could work on the system without outside interference. Running a finger along the doorframe, she activated the protection runes embedded into the metal for the extra layer of security. Once the final one was activated, she felt the room's air still around her and the disruption of her magical energies. Shivering, she moved to put the dust into the system as fast as she could, cause she hated this part.

Essentially she, or any other magical person in the room, was nearly powerless. It required a lot of power to even cast the simplest of cantrips, and the removal of her link to Pyrrha was unnerving on a whole other level.

Getting to the wall of pipes, she began the process of opening the cases, removing the canisters, and feeding them into the appropriate openings. By the time she got to the end of the row, she could go back to the start and remove the now empty canisters and put them in their cases. After the third circuit, she was down to just reloading and emptying the pink dust, which seemed to serve as the basis for repulsing the Grimm. They needed an entire case of pink dust for the month, and as she thought about it, perhaps it was for the best that they filled it every two weeks instead.

Finishing up, she set the last empty canister in its case, before sealing them all and writing her name on the stickers that she placed over the openings. It might not be the most time efficient method, but it did help to keep things in order.

Looking at the various gauges, she began writing down the numbers on the log, noting any that were severely different than previous weeks. Thankfully, everything looked to be in acceptable ranges, but she knew that Thropp would look over the numbers herself later on in the week. It was part of her job after all, but at least it made sure that they didn't miss something major. Especially after the attack on the first night of school, they couldn't afford to make mistakes.

Setting the log back on the shelf it belonged, she packed the cart full of the empty containers, which would be taken back by Mr. Green for use next time. Stepping over to the door, she began to enter the twenty-eight digit passcode so she could leave. The soft hiss and pop of the door at the end of the code brought a thankful sigh from her as she pulled it open to give her access to fresh air once again. It was the first time she'd managed to remember the entire code on the first try, and she felt proud about that.

Wheeling over to the van, she smiled as Jaune opened the back doors and started loading the empty cases into the van. "Thanks Jaune," she offered as she began helping him with the packing. It was nice having a little help with this.

"Hey no problem," he answered while giving her a bit of a goofy grin, the process taking less time as they didn't have to worry about dropping the cases to hard and blowing them up. Not that one of them knew it when he was unloading them. "I heard that you might be starting up a movie night, is that open to all?"

"Yep! Just bring your own drinks and popcorn, I'm thinking of trying to get it going on Wednesday nights to break up the hump day blues!" she explained trying to ignore the overwhelming sense of concern and relief flooding her through the link with Pyrrha as it reestablished itself.

"Cool… might stop in."

"Are we finished Ms. Rose?" Elphaba cut in before Ruby could respond, getting a squeak of surprise from the girl.

"Yes Ms. Thropp, we just finished," she answered while Jaune closed the back of the van, giving the intimidating woman a nervous nod before moving swiftly to the passenger door. As they drove off, the stern woman turned towards the main offices, her flats clicking harshly against the sidewalk. Ruby rushed to catch up, wanting to explain to Pyrrha what happened before the worry she was feeling increased even more than it already was.

Rushing past the teacher, Ruby made it to the monitor room and sprang across it to hug Pyrrha warmly. "I'm fine! No need to worry, see? I just forgot about the magic nullification thing on the dust room and how it takes down the link temporarily, but we're back together now and it's all good now right?" she rambled, holding Pyrrha in her arms tightly as she hoisted the taller girl out of her seat and into the air.

"Ruby," Pyrrha grunted out as she patted the smaller girl's arm lightly. "Need to breathe…"

"Oh!" Ruby squeaked before swiftly lowering the Amazonian to the ground gently and looking her over for any bruising. "Sorry, I just felt all your worry, and couldn't tell you it was alright, and I guess I just got even more nervous, and that probably made you worry more, and it just kept building up between us, until I felt like I could pop and…"

"It's alright Ruby, I'm sorry I made you fret over my worry, but it was about this little family of ducklings that got cut off from their mother," Pyrrha explained sheepishly as she pointed to the monitor, a touching reunion scene on display. "I figured if there was a problem that Miss Thrope would inform me… or the explosions of you dealing with the problem would. One of the two."

Ruby's body seemed to remove all tension as she stared blankly at the blushing redhead in front of her, before mechanically turning her head to look at the ducks on the screen. While staring at it, twin streams of tears began rolling down her cheeks. "Y-you didn't worry? Not even a little bit?"

"I'm sorry Ruby… but I thought that you knew more about magic than me, and that you would have been more scared before the link severed than bored," Pyrrha explained softly, petting the smaller girl on the head.

Ruby's tears dried up as she was pet by the tall woman, she hadn't been worried because she thought Ruby was resourceful enough on her own, and had been able to somewhat figure out the situation with just the vague feelings and stuff from the Pactio link. All of that and still able to do her job, she was really impressive, and compassionate if all that worry had been from the ducklings and their mother. Maybe she hadn't made as big of a mistake as she thought when she'd been tricked into being her Pactio partner. In fact, the worrying about animals was kinda cute.

"Yes… yes… well this is all sappy and melodramatic," the sharp voice of Elphaba cut through the scene like a laser through butter. She didn't seem to care in the least that she ruined a scene or anything; in fact she almost seemed to have enjoyed it a little bit. "Now if you're going to be sickeningly adorable, please do so in the dorms."

"Oh, is our shift over?" Ruby asked curiously as she pulled herself away from the redhead who was checking the clock on the displays. Elphaba nodded her head with a heavy sigh, putting her fingers to her forehead as she felt severely stressed about dealing with this.

"Yes… now please, just leave and go do something else," she commanded while trying to sound like she wasn't tired beyond words. "If you want to go continue your little melodrama, culminating in renewing your Pactio, I don't care. Just. Go."

The two students shared a look at that, before turning a matching shade of fire engine red and looking anywhere but at the other girl. They suddenly found packing their stuff to go as infinitely more interesting than their partner. And wouldn't you know it? There was just this most fascinating bit of stonework going with the flooring of the hall leading away from the monitor room.

As she settled back into her chair, and picked up her tea, Elphaba couldn't help but smile to herself as she hummed a few bars before speak-singing a line, "What is this feeling? So sudden and new?"


	9. Crystalli Me

Five A.M. might seem ungodly early for most people and Ruby would be one of them, however she knew that getting up at that time meant she could do her daily run before the lessons at nine. The potion from Elphaba mixed in with iced coffee did wonders for keeping her awake. Having Pyrrha running beside her was a bit odd, but it felt good to have a running buddy, and they seemed to find a good pace between their usual gaits.

Getting to the meeting point for their lessons, they were not overly surprised to find Glynda waiting for them even two full minutes before the arranged time. "Good, you're early again," she answered while turning towards the entrance to the sub-basement they would be training in. It was a simple door in the side of the building marked 'maintenance' which she unlocked with a key, but Ruby could sense a trickle of magic seeping out to activate a spell on the other side of the door. Once the door was opened, it revealed a small room with a furnace, and what appeared to be an elevator.

The three of them piled in, closing the door behind them, which locked itself upon closing. The elevator dinged before the doors slid open and allowed them entrance. Ruby stepped in before standing on her tiptoes to whisper into Pyrrha's ear. "There's a spell that hides the elevator unless a magical signature unlocks it."

"Useful, keeps people from uncovering easily," she agreed while they were carried down into the sub-basement training area, the elevator only had opaque doors, giving them an excellent view of the training area, a large open room with dozens of mats on the ground, walls, and even a few on the ceiling.

After the first training sessions with Ruby she knew what the pads on the ceilings were for. Closing her eyes, she readied herself for actual combat training as opposed to the simulated stuff she'd learned for movies. It was both thrilling and terrifying at the same time. The moves were very different, as she was actually looking to harm a person instead of just making it look like she was for the cameras.

"Are you ready Pyrrha?" Ruby asked awkwardly as she tried to figure out how the redhead felt about the entire situation, and seeing only strange and horrible as options, "We're going to be practicing the Pactio summons, and the weapons."

"I am," Pyrrha agreed as she took a deep breath to steady her nerves, it was a little unsettling to experience the Pactio summons, especially the initialization one.

As the elevator reached the bottom, the three magic users stepped out and were greeted by the muffled sounds of their footsteps trying to escape the padded prison silencing them. Standing in the center of a mass of concentric circles, Ruby pulled out her scythe and held it in front of her so that the blade was barely missing the ground. "Now then, as you two are still dragging your heels about performing another ceremony, we will have to practice with the Botched Pactio card," Glynda stated with a pointed look at the two girls, who suddenly found something interesting on opposite sides of the room. "Miss Rose, do you have the card with you?"

Ruby pulled out the card, holding it up for the instructor to see. "Right here…" she answered, feeling worse about how it referred to Pyrrha as a 'Clingy Poker', while she was holding a garbage can lid and a sharpened stick in what looked like a leopard skin loincloth skirt. Thankfully, she didn't actually end up wearing that outfit, since the botched Pactio didn't actually transform the partners. She didn't want to imagine what Pyrrha would think if she actually had to wear that.

"Good, now activate the ritual," the instructor ordered with a stern frown, forcing herself to not laugh at the card. It was actually one of the better titles a botched card gave to the Minister of the contract. At least this one was able to be read out in polite company.

Ruby drew out her scythe, holding it so that the blade was just barely off of the ground. Her eyes focused on the card in her other hand, which she drew slowly along the spine of the weapon, a faint glow of magic blooming from the card as she poured her focus and energy into the card. The glow was echoed by a circle of energy forming at the feet of both Ruby and Pyrrha as she spoke in a powerful and deep voice which boomed out as a part of the magic fueling the link between them. "Sis mea pars! Ministra Ruby, Pyrrha Nikos!"

The emotional link between the two of them grew solid and more tangible with the activation of the contract, bringing their minds into synch as the magic glow intensified around them both. In Pyrrha's hands a simple wooden shield and sharpened length of wood appeared as her part of the contract. A small part of Ruby's mind wondered how amazing she must look with a properly performed contract, a part she didn't attempt to squelch as it was already too late to keep the Amazonian woman from feeling it. The echo of curiosity was nearly instantaneous, and she just gave her a sense of muted confidence that it would be more amazing than they could imagine.

"Good," Glynda stated as she slashed her hand through the air, a riding crop appearing at the last second to crack the air sharply. "If you ever form a proper contract, you won't need her to activate the contract in order to summon your weapons Miss Nikos."

The flood of embarrassment that shot between them nearly tripled once they realized the other woman felt much the same about kissing the other. It took them a lot of focus and concentration to not let the emotions overwhelm their connection and deplete their magic before they could finish training.

Glynda smirked as she saw the two settling into combat stances, readying for what was to come. Bringing her crop up into a ready stance, she slashed it through the air swiftly as she chanted solemnly, "Surge, satellitibus in ligno!"

Three humanoid figured melted up out of the ground with the sound of groaning and creaking wood, revealing the training dummies for the morning. They were articulated blanks of wood, which looked more like an artist modelling dummy than threats, until you came to the wickedly sharp and jagged claws where normal hands might have been. Pyrrha heard Ruby shifting behind her, and tensed her grip on the spear and shield. She briefly thought out the wonder if those things ever got less ugly from seeing them over time, to which she got a feeling of laughter in her head, before an emphatic no.

Then the time for jokes was over, and she had to block a slash attack from the wooden golem, while thrusting her spear into the chest of another to keep it back. Ruby was on the move behind her, charging into the third one, and nearly taking its head off with her scythe. Instead she slammed it onto the ground and began dragging it along as she cried out a phrase in Latin that the Amazonian didn't quite catch.

The report of gunfire from the blade end of the scythe, and the subsequent decapitation of the dummy with the blade arcing up to grab another one was a lot harder to miss however. Taking the opening she got with her shield freeing up, she brought its edge forward while stepping inside her spear's range. The wooden circle knocked the head back with a resounding thud, which she used to drive her spear point up into the neck of the monstrous wooden creature, staggering it back further.

Using the anchored shaft for leverage, she stepped forward again, and brought the entire cacophony of wood over her hip and slammed the beast into the ground with a force that would have pinned the spear through its neck on any softer opponent. Instead, the creature took a swipe at her legs which made her leap back.

She managed to catch sight of Ruby, spinning her Scythe defensively to deflect the rapid rain of blows the creature was slashing her way with reckless abandon. Reaching out into air with her empty hand, she summoned her spear back, and brought it back past her ear, to launch it forward into the legs of the monster against Ruby. She didn't have time enough to see the effects of the attack as she had to block the one she had stunned with her shield.

The blows against her shield were powerful and solid, barely being deflected towards the air on either side of her by the redhead who was falling back step by step with each slash. The shield was chipping, splintering, and starting to come undone as the smashing continued.

A flex of her hand had the spear back in hand, just in time for her to catch a surprise attack by the dummy Ruby had beheaded. Grinning, she stepped back away from both of them and let their claws clash together, a smirk playing out over her lips as their branches became entangled and clattered together. Not wasting the opening, she stabbed her spear into the ground and vaulted into the headless one feet first, sending the pair of them sprawling onto the ground in a tangle of wood and noise.

The dummies down, she focused instead on their main target; the ever scowling Glynda Goodwitch was guiding the dummies in the battle, so she couldn't use magic on them. They had to score a hit on her to finish the practice. Using the momentum of her attack, she sprang forward into a run past the defenses and charged at Glynda.

This drew her attention to the athletic girl, who pulled the spear back to throw again. It sailed through the air, directly at the woman's chest, only to be knocked aside with a single flick of her crop. Say what you will about riding crops as a weapon, she was the master of that one, and there was precious little one could do against it if she didn't allow you.

Returning the spear back to her hand, she grimaced as she saw that the tip of it was now blunted and the shaft was beginning to splinter. That meant the magic was beginning to run out, so she had to move swiftly to finish this. A thrust of the spear was knocked aside with a simple flick of Glynda's wrist, which spoiled the shield bash she was going to follow it up with. Flowing past the experiences spell caster, she raised her shield up behind her instead, grinning to herself as she felt a smack against the other side of the wooden blockade. Those smacks hurt like the dickens if she caught you a good one, and so she had learned how to block or divert them as best she could.

Rolling back into her shield, she squared off with Glynda, watching Ruby kicking the last piece of a dismantled dummy to some far corner of the training area, already spinning her scythe to deflect the attack of the remaining whole one. The headless one was wandering off away from the fight, giving Pyrrha hope that she was doing something right. If they were distracting Glynda enough that she might lose control of a dummy, that meant they might be able to actually score a touch on her for once.

Sidestepping, she watched her opponent's body language to try and divine where she might be going next. The only thing she could figure out from the focused study of her teacher was that she could only hope that she looked as fit when she was that old. A swish of warning was met with the spear's shaft blocking the main body of the crop, causing the tip to flop just out of reach. Stepping forward, she tried to shield slam the blonde's torso, and was disappointed when the woman moved with her, preventing the contact.

Instead of focusing on the failure, she kept pressing the attack, her spear thrusting in and out with practiced and precise strikes that she mixed with shield play and kicks meant to distract her. She mixed overarm thrusts and stabs, with underarm sweeps and strikes at random to try and find some way to penetrate that swishing crop. Then she felt the sudden urgency to duck, which caused her to roll forward, under a slash from Glynda, who let out a strangled noise of surprise just before a wooden golem flew through where Pyrrha's torso had been.

Looking back, she saw a worried looking Ruby leaning on her scythe and panting heavily before giving a thumbs up and incanting, "Redi ad teipsum, Pyrrha Nikos." As the flow of magic between them ended, Pyrrha watched the shield and spear turn golden, and take on another form, this one cleaner and sharper than the rough wooden implements she had been using before they collapsed into a single point of light and sprang up into the air and drifted into her chest.

"Requiesce, satellitibus in ligno," Glynda groaned out from a few feet away, drawing Pyrrha's attention. She managed to look just in time to see the older woman pinned to the ground by the couple hundred pounds of formerly animated wood before it vanished in a splintering of light and magic. Staggering over under a surprisingly large amount of exhaustion, she offered a hand to the downed opponent with a warm smile. "Very good, your teamwork and skills are improving nicely."

The feeling of pride from both her chest and the faint echoing tickle from the link was a weird sensation, but one that she wouldn't mind feeling more often. Without even a second thought, she knew that Ruby would agree with her. "Thank you very much ma'am."

"Thank you Miss Goodwitch!" Ruby chirped excitedly, though Pyrrha could feel the sheer amount of exhaustion rolling off of her in waves. "Are you alright? I didn't see where it was going until it was too late."

"I'm fine Miss Rose, thank you for asking. I managed to raise a shield that took brunt of the damage before it hit me," Glynda explained while dusting herself off. "I believe that was the first time I've ever heard of someone using an opponent as a projectile weapon."

Pyrrha could feel the shock that Ruby felt, nearly dwarfing her own as she watched a smile curl the lips of the usually upset looking instructor. It was strange seeing her grinning, so when she began laughing at their shocked expressions, there was a momentary panic that the world was about to end, though Pyrrha couldn't tell where it originated; she suspected Ruby. After all, she wasn't the type to delve into such theatrics.

At least, not often.

Pyrrha looked at a few of the holes she had made into the floor, marveling as they began to seal themselves shut before her eyes. Magic was a wonderful thing sometimes. "I suppose that next time we might move on to difficulty two," Glynda stated, cutting through her thoughts with all the delicate nature of an aircraft carrier cutting through water. It had escaped her thought that they were still on the most basic level of training, and they had only passed by sheer luck this time.

"I'm sorry ma'am, but could we do a bit more training at level one?" she asked timidly, worried about how likely it was that they were going to be completely wiped with anything harder. Ruby looked ready to protest that, before she had to clutch to her scythe to even remain standing up as her stomach let out a piteous growl.

"If you two were to form a proper Pactio, I imagine we could already be at level five, or even higher… food for thought," the woman commented offhand, while indicating the elevator. "Why don't you two leave early for lunch and think about it?"

Ruby let out a whimper as she sent out waves of the feeling that she was being teased mercilessly by the instructor, before Pyrrha walked over and put Ruby's arm around her waist. "We will Professor, thank you for your advice."

"Thank you…" Ruby echoed as she was bodily hauled to the elevators, unable to mount even a token resistance from the drain the magic put on her body.

"Miss Rose? It would be a little less draining if you were to form the Pactio, just something to consider," Glynda stated in a tone that made it sound like anything but a suggestion to think about. The normally energetic girl gave her a sound that could have been an agreement to think about it, but the feeling Pyrrha was getting off of her was more along the lines of doing physically impossible things with that scythe to parts of the instructor's anatomy.

Pyrrha tried to bolster the girl's cheer, or at least curtail the anger a little bit by giving her a gentle squeeze and propping her against her shoulder a little better. "Come on Ruby, I'll treat you to an extra dessert if you can make it to the cafeteria, it's Pizza and Tacos Saturday, and we'll be early enough to get the best selection."

"Cake?"

"Sure," Pyrrha agreed with a smile as she patted the tired magister gently on the head. "If they have cake, you can have some on me."

"Yay!" Ruby cheered, smiling happily as she closed her eyes to wait for the elevator to open. Pyrrha didn't say anything, but reached behind her subtly and pressed the call button so the doors would open. Maybe some food and a hot bath would do the poor girl some wonders. "Can we watch movies tonight?"

"That sounds fun," the redhead agreed, leading the tired girl into the metal and glass box. "We can invite the others too, make a night of it."

Little did she know Glynda was watching them with a knowing smirk on her face. She didn't say anything, before turning away and waiting for the lift to close behind them. Pulling out her Scroll, she pressed dial, showing the superiority of its technology over cellphones as it actually connected with full strength.

"Hey El, it's me… yeah, they just left," she stated into the mouthpiece, her eyes looking over the lenses of her glasses to watch the elevator as it rose out of sight. "They do have a natural chemistry there, but if we continue pushing, they may push back. We should exercise caution."

Listening to the voice on the other end of the line, she couldn't help but let her smirk bloom into a full smile. "Yes, I think that will work nicely. There will be a movie night at the dorms tonight it seems," she continued as she adjusted a loose strand of hair behind her ear again. "I think we might be able to have some Italian before then. Yes, love you too."

* * *

A/N: I would like to apologize to all native Latin Speakers for the spells used, and to any and all Negima fans reading this. I took a huge amount of liberties here.


	10. Iterum Conari

Lunch seemed to be a wonderful, quiet affair for the two today, since it was still early there weren't many students in the cafeteria. In fact, only Blake had been there, curled up at a table reading while the sun streamed through the windows, bathing her in its warmth and light. Ruby waved to her, which she returned with a nod. Pyrrha offered her a shy smile and wave as well, and was intensely surprised when Blake actually smiled at her as well.

The meal itself was a very nice and tasty taco salad with extra cheese sauce for Pyrrha, Ruby snagging a couple slices of pizza for herself. Remembering to pick up dessert for Ruby, Pyrrha guided the tired girl towards a table near the center of the room where they could talk and monitor the room as a whole. While the meal progressed, Ruby seemed to come back to life from their training session.

"We make a good team Ruby," the redhead offered as they enjoyed their desserts, keeping her voice down due to the subject material. Ruby looked up from her sizeable slice of chocolate cherry cake with a beaming smile surrounded with chocolate frosting. "You are very good on your own, but I feel that there is room for improvement. And I know that I have very much to learn as well."

"Yeah, but you were all cool with your moves and stuff," Ruby chirped around the mouthful of cake, surprisingly not spraying Pyrrha full with the mess in her mouth. It was an afterthought that perhaps it was from growing up with Yang. "I can cover some of the basics, and you might be able to pick it up. It would be awesome if you can find your own source."

Pyrrha paused in the middle of her bit of dessert, the strawberry slipping off her fork to plop back into the shortcake and whipped cream. "Source? What's that?"

Ruby paused in inhaling her cake like a vacuum to consider her answer, tapping her fork against her lips. "Source… It's like a pool of energy where all we can do comes from…" Ruby tried to explain as obliquely as possible, while watching Blake out of the corner of her eyes. If Pyrrha had thought it was difficult for her to keep the secret, she could only be amazed at Ruby being able to do so.

"Something like a mana bar from that game you showed me?" Pyrrha asked, seeing a way to describe magic without revealing that it was a real world thing. If it was a thing from a game, they could talk about it openly without exposing the secret.

Ruby seemed to actually consider it for a moment before nodding her head in agreement. "Yeah! That's a great way of putting it. So think of it as a mana bar, but for everyone it's different… kinda like the difference between an arcana caster and a divine healer or one of those cool druids; but more inside, in your feelings and emotions, but not just those. Like for me it's my desire to protect people that helped spark my first use, I stopped a bookcase from falling on Yang."

That was certainly impressive, if a first feat of magic was powerful enough to stop an entire bookcase, she could only imagine what she was capable of doing now. She must have showed her how amazed she was about her being able to do that, or it could have been over the link they shared, but Ruby let out a soft laugh and shook her head. "It was purely accidental, and it took me years to learn how to do it again."

"Did you get a letter and owl? Banking with goblins?" Pyrrha teased quietly, giving her a playful grin as she laughed softly.

Ruby shook her head, rolling her eyes at the silly reference, like she'd been expecting it for a while now. "I wish, no… I had a mail correspondence course, and Zwei. No, that place isn't real, but it would be kinda cool to see it if it were. Probably would be a complete tourist trap though."

"Could you imagine the insurance nightmare that place would be? The moving stairs, the various dangers they face yearly, the countless ancient artifacts…" Pyrrha began to ramble, putting more thought into it than the creator probably did.

"I just wish I could play with the lake squid! He sounded so fun," Ruby offered with a laugh that Pyrrha swiftly joined in with. It was nice to just have a bit of fun geeking out sometimes about silly little things like this. As the laughter died out, they finished off their desserts.

"I don't feel like going to the gym today, I think I'm going back to the dorms and take a shower," Ruby offered, turning towards the rooms before Pyrrha patted her on the shoulder.

"Hey, why don't you join me in the baths? You've been there right?" the taller girl asked with an open and friendly smile, before a look of embarrassment crossed her face. "I mean the student bath house, just past the dorms, not the ones in the dorms."

Ruby blinked at her partner in confusion as she tried to explain her real meaning before just answering the original question. "No, it's just a big bathtub isn't it?" she asked with a confused expression on her face, that's when it hit her. Pyrrha was shocked and nearly appalled at what she had said. The fingers on her shoulder tensed a little bit as the Amazonian began to loom over the shorter girl.

"Ruby… you have been at Beacon for a few months already, you should know that nothing is ever as you expect," Pyrrha explained as she stared her partner square in the eyes. "Think more along the lines of Roman Baths."

"What's that?" the younger girl asked, before being hefted up into the taller girl's arms with ease and carried off towards the distant building. Despite her mighty stuggles, Ruby was unable to free herself from the redhead's grip as she was carried while being slung over the taller girl's shoulder.

"You know, you really should listen to me when I say you should try these things Ruby," Pyrrha explained while the smaller girl satisfied herself with several words that someone of her youthful age shouldn't know. But as she was in college, it probably didn't so much as raise an eyebrow from any but the strictest of prudes. Being as this was Beacon, those were somewhere else entirely. "I think that you will thoroughly enjoy this, I do apologize for being so forceful, but it is time to educate you on this matter."

Ruby tried to protest, tried to fight her way free of the Amazonian's grip, tried to whine and complain about being forced to go sit in a stupid tub and waste time she could be doing something more productive. She did have a point about this being a form of harassment, but Pyrrha continued to carry her through the rather empty quad with ease. Getting to the baths, the redhead opened the doors with her free hand and walked Ruby into the changing rooms, paying for both of them on her card in the auto-teller before making sure to cycle the turnstile a second circuit so no one got a free use. "I ask that you please not waste my money, and at least give this a try."

"Fine… but will you put me down now?" Ruby grumbled as she was carried into a strange locker room. While the floor was smooth concrete, the lockers themselves seemed to be hewn out of a rock wall. Okay, that was somewhat impressive. The roof itself almost looked like a natural cave, if it wasn't for the pot lights illuminating the room.

While Ruby was busy gawking around the room, taking note of the details that went into the walls to make it look natural, Pyrrha was taking care to lower her down on the bench. "Do you still believe this is going to just be like the bath in your home?" she asked to draw the younger girl's attention out of her examination of the room.

"Okay, so it might be a bit cooler than I was thinking," Ruby conceded with a huff as she looked at the lockers. "Umm… there's no suits… just a towel and a lock, with a key on a chain," she pointed out as she opened one of the lockers, looking inside curiously. She picked up the 'towel', and watched it unfurled before her to reveal it was actually a lot larger than it looked all folded up. She could almost use it as a towel.

"That's for you to wear in the baths themselves until you are fully submerged. The boys have a separate section so you can go bare entirely if you want, but most just wear the towel around the open air areas," Pyrrha explained as she began stripping off her clothing and setting it into her locker. "You keep the key with you on the chain. I generally dangle it on my wrists."

"Huh… that's kinda neat," Ruby offered while looking at the chain dangling off the keys. "What's to stop the boys from peeking though?"

"About a couple tons of machinery, two concrete and stone walls, and a really good security system," the redhead explained while stripping out of her clothes, putting them into the locker before grabbing out her towel to wrap up in.

After following suit, Ruby was shown into the showers, which after a brief pause led into the bathhouse proper. The scene awaiting her was nothing close to what she had been expecting. There was rock walls surrounding everything, steam drifting lazily up off the standing water, a waterfall circulated the water, giving a faint noise that served to underscore the music filtering through hidden speakers. "Woah…" Ruby chimed in as she looked around the area with her eyes wide and jaw hanging slightly slack.

"It's usually not this empty, but that's probably because it's early on Saturday, a lot of people stop in before going out on Friday or later tonight," Pyrrha explained, waving towards the empty area, where there was only one other living being present. "I… did not know that animals could come in here."

"Hello girls, don't mind me," the deep, booming voice of Zwei offered as he paddled in one of the side pools.

The two girls both stared blankly at the dog that had caused them so much trouble previously, millions of questions raging through their minds as they tried to figure out what they should ask first. Instead they simply ensured that the towels were firmly in place before taking two pools separated by a thin sitting area where they could talk, but there was no chance of accidental contact being made. The silence that followed was relaxing, aided by the heated water working its magic on their tired muscles.

"I would like to apologize for forcing you to come here," Pyrrha offered after a few minutes of silence, breaking it with her own quiet voice. "I don't know why I did that, it just felt like… I had to…"

"Probably a part of the Pactio, since we are supposed to help each other grow as individuals as well as partners in magic," Ruby mused while she closed her eyes to just allow herself to relax. Her arms were sitting on top of the water, letting them drift there lazily. "

"It was kind of weird, but I think I somewhat enjoyed the decisiveness that it gave me. Have you had any impulses that you felt regarding me?" the Amazonian woman asked as her entire body began to float in the water, remaining mostly submerged in the deliciously warm water.

"Kinda? I've felt the need to try and meddle with you regarding that Jaune guy, but I don't know why," Ruby admitted as she reached up to scratch her nose in thought, kinda wondering about what she was feeling regarding those two in particular.

The red coloring Pyrrha's cheeks was from more than the heat of the bath area, realizing that the thundering in her chest was as good as a confession across their link. Clearing her throat, she tried to piece together an explanation that wasn't completely and utterly lame. "You… remember that I have… feelings for him right?"

"Yeah? But why wou- oh… OH! I'm supposed to be helping you two get together!" Ruby cheered, finally putting the pieces of the puzzle together.

"You don't have to… but if there was a potion or… something…" she tried to suggest, getting a snort of laughter out of Ruby.

"No, you never want to use love potions, they always end in horrible ways and zany antics," the younger magician explained between fits of giggles as severla examples flooded into her mind, a few of them going over to Pyrrha through their link, which made her start giggling as well.

The two of them spent a little while giggling as examples played out through their connection. Zwei's ears perked up at this, and he stalled his paddling to look over at them while clinging to the rock edge. His entire bottom was waggling as he sensed that despite their prior protests, they seemed to be developing nicely that soon they might even consider expanding on their current contract. In his instinctual doggy brain, he knew that having a mate would be good. And if the mate had a side-mate then it would be fine for Ruby to have side-mates of her own. So Pyrrha was a good first mate to have a Pactio with, as she would help Ruby be a stronger magic user in both their Pactio, and by allowing her to have multiple other contracts. This was a good plan, much better than the haphazard one he heard about through the other companions about the ermine out in Japan.

This would be much better, since he was planning things out properly.

Once the pair had gotten their composures back, they settled into a comfortable silence, just allowing their thoughts to float much the same as their bodies in the water. After nearly ten minutes, an idea popped into Pyrrha's head, and she rolled over onto her stomach to look over at Ruby. "Do you trust me? I want to try something."

Ruby made a curious noise as she peeked open her eyes to look over at her partner, seeing the placid smile on her face she considered the question. "Yeah, I do… bu-"

Pyrrha was on the move already, waving for Ruby to follow her. The pair met over at the base of the base of the waterfall, where Pyrrha took Ruby's hand and slipped them both behind the falling water, revealing a rather warm cavern with long flat benches and curious piles of stones around what seemed to be a heat source. There were benches along the walls, and a single flat stone area in the middle of the room that had a hole at one end.

As sweat began to bead on Ruby's body from the heat, she found herself being guided to the bench with gentle fingers, her towel being shed as she walked in the area. Pyrrha used her long, tender fingers to brush away small beads of sweat from Ruby's face as she laid her out on the flat stone. "Just relax, if you feel like this is too much for you, let me know…" she instructed, cradling Ruby's head as she nestled into the hole on the table.

Ruby was about to ask questions as she watched the hand that had been cradling her head disappear from view beneath the surprisingly comfortable and warm table she was stretching out on. Pyrrha seemed to be focused intently on Ruby's face as a smooth, rounded object brushed against the mage's thigh, drifting upwards slowly along the flesh. This was making Ruby's heart race, but she couldn't tear her eyes away from the tender, caring gaze locked on her face. "This might feel weird, since I'm inexperienced, sorry," the redhead offered with a sheepish grin as the smooth object settled on her thigh, before being mirrored on the other side a second later.

Slowly, her brain picked up what was going on, and her suspicions were confirmed a moment later as a smooth, rounded stone passed through her vision before being settled on her stomach, the slow seductive warmth of the stone spreading out through her body to work its tender magic. She'd heard of hot rock therapy before, but she never thought it could be so awesome, especially with how silly it sounded otherwise.

"Are you alright Ruby? Do you need some water before we continue?" Pyrrha asked, interrupting her thoughts as she paused with a rock in her hand, obviously heading somewhere else.

Ruby blinked slowly as she tried to process the question, she was a little thirsty, but otherwise fine. "I'm alright… I never thought about doing this before."

"I wish I was more skilled at this, but I had a masseuse teach me a little bit. Now, I think that's all the ones for the front, and I start working with other stones, and then we can have you flip over to do the back," Pyrrha explained, taking a pair of stones and slowly rubbing them over Ruby's arms, getting a moan of pleasure as the tension released from them.

Pyrrha continued working slowly over the tired muscles, grinning as Ruby began turning into putty in her hands. It was somewhat cute, how the younger woman continued to relax and enjoy the massage. She found herself wanting to bring this sense of peace out in the girl more and more as the relaxation spread throughout her partner's body. The link between them gave her a trickle of a sense of what Ruby was feeling, and she could only smile as she remembered how it felt for her as well.

The slow massage took the better part of a half-hour, and the redhead was a little surprised that Ruby didn't turn into a cartoon puddle of living goop with how boneless she was acting. A smile spread on her face as she thought how cute it looked to her. The thought that it was her work that had granted Ruby this reprieve from the tensions she hadn't known she was facing was a rewarding and pleasant feeling. "I am an amateur, but you don't seem to mind that much," she offered up with a small, contented smile.

Ruby turned her head enough that she could look at her partner with a satisfied smile on her face. "Thanks, that was amazing," she offered as Pyrrha picked up her discarded towel and spread it over her exposed backside. Her sleepy grin grew wider as she watched her partner kneeling by her head. "I should learn to do this sort of thing to pay you back."

"I'm sorry, but could you leave me some talents you don't have?" Pyrrha asked with a teasing smile as she reached out to stroke Ruby's hair back out of her face. "I want you to know that you inspire me, and I would… I think that I would like to be your full and proper Pactio partner."

Ruby's eyes widened in shock at that confession, she knew that she must have that silly slack jaw look she got when people shocked her completely. Pyrrha seemed to understand what she was trying and failing to say, as she reached out to cup Ruby's cheek in her hand. "You wanted to protect others, and that is a goal I want to help you with, if you will let me. I want to be your partner, and be the knight against the darkness."

Ruby closed her mouth, giving Pyrrha a smile as she felt tears stinging her eyes. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she nodded her head. "Yes Pyrrha, I will be your partner, and help you with magic and mundane. We will stand together, and protect those that cannot face the darkness," she answered; half-remembering that this was supposed to be a formal agreement, even as the tears of joy trickled down her cheeks.

Pyrrha wiped away the tears with a soft laugh, giving her a sympathetic smile even as she found herself tearing up as well. "What do we need to do to make it official?"

"We have to get a mediator to draw a ritual circle, and then exchange a vow or ritual to seal the contract… with either blood or a kiss, and then we get a new magical Pactio card, probably replacing the one I keep in my Scroll," Ruby explained with a faint blush creeping onto her cheeks as she thought about the process. She would rather avoid the blood route, since she'd never heard of a good ritual being formed with blood before.

Pyrrha bit her lip and looked away as she blushed as well, looking out towards the waterfall. "The last time… when we made the Mistake Pactio, that Zwei made the circle, didn't he? Would it be better to get someone else, or can we use the same mediator?"

"I think we can have the same mediator, since you mediator can grant multiple Pactio partners," Ruby explained while scratching her head in thought. "I think that they get some sort of fee for doing it from the local magical council, and are penalized for the Mistake ones... or something like that."

Pyrrha let out a breath as she seemed to be considering something, before cupping her hands around her mouth and calling out through the waterfall. "Zwei! Come here!"

Almost as though he'd been waiting outside, Zwei popped in with a wide doggy grin and a waterproof container holding what appeared to be pieces of chalk. "How may I be of assistance?" he asked in his booming voice, echoing in the enclosed rock cavern.

"Pactio ritual circle, which I believe is safe to assume you knew already," Pyrrha stated with a rueful smile as he began prying at the box's lid with his teeth. She heard Ruby getting up off the massage rock, and hoped she was rewrapping the towel around her. It was going to be awkward enough kissing her as they were, she didn't want to think about kissing Ruby while she was still naked. But she thought it was safer to do this in privacy. "We are still alone, right?"

"Oh yeah, empty save for you and me," Zwei agreed as he managed to get the top off, and pulled out a piece of chalk. With his mouthful, he muttered about giving him a moment to draw the circle out.

Pyrrha watched him drawing out the circle, wondering if the some of the symbols were the same as the ones for the astrology signs for a reason or if that was just a coincidence. Instead of voicing this, she decided she would investigate it later, once she had her own Scroll to look things up with. It was a bit awkward talking magic with the small dog form, or really talking to him in general felt weird.

Being herded by a corgi was a novel experience, and judging from Ruby's face, she would likely have agreed. "Now then, we can't have none of that namby-pamby forehead or cheek smooching. What we are going for is a full-on-the-lips kiss," Zwei commanded, sounding much like one of the directors Pyrrha had worked with once upon a time.

The thought almost made her laugh as she turned to share it with Ruby, however seeing Ruby's smile made her aware that she likely already had shared it with her unintentionally. The faint glow of magic that sprung up from the circle caused their towels to shift a very little bit, though their hair seemed to make up for it by creating full halos around their heads by standing on end.

Ruby smiled warmly as she looked up at Pyrrha, a sensation of surprise rippling through the magic. Apparently the thought that Pyrrha had about this being far stronger than before wasn't far off. Slowly the two merged, Pyrrha kneeling slightly, their eyes speaking volumes about the emotions they were feeling at that moment. The desire to help the other, the strength they promised to share, the magic that only two hearts united in a common goal could feel.

When their lips met this time, it didn't feel the same as the accidental brushing at the base of the stairs. This felt like two halves joining together to create more than what they were apart, power and emotions surged through their bodies like tidal waves threatening to sweep them away, and the only thing keeping them grounded was the partner on the other side of the circle.

And just as suddenly as the waves started, they subsided with the deep voice of Zwei proclaiming the Pactio to be complete. The two took a step apart, just as the card blasted through the waterfall with force enough to part the water temporarily. It came to a screeching halt between them, hovering in the air between their eyes. The card itself was glowing faintly with magic, and the design of the image on the card had more than upgraded.

Pyrrha stood tall and proud, her weapon a gleaming bronze javelin that gave hints at being so much more, while her circular shield shined with a power of its own. Her clothing had been replaced entirely with a suit of bronze armor that wouldn't have been out of place for the gladiator rings of Ancient Rome. "Sweet, you're like a real-life Athena or something! She was the goddess of smart war, right?"

"Very good, not many realize that," Pyrrha answered while taking the card in her hand, and smiling happily as she looked it over, marveling at the Latin writing she couldn't quite make out.

"Yes," a sharp voice stated from the entrance, causing three heads to whip around to see Glynda smiling at them with a slightly bemused expression, though the crop in her hand made them question if that was an honest smile. "But might I suggest you not do this type of magic when the card could be seen by normal students?"

"Yes ma'am, sorry ma'am," the two guilty parties chimed in broken unison, their cheeks completely crimson at the scolding and being caught like they were. "We'll be going now."

"Must remember to have Elphaba check the wards on this side of the bath… animal or no, that male should not be able to be here," she stated, her eyes locked on the corgi who was attempting to look perfectly innocent, even though he had a chalk outline around his mouth, and otherwise his fur was plastered to his body from the moisture.

"It's probably because he's been fixed," Ruby offered up, not seeming to notice the pained look on Zwei's face as he dropped to his hind knees and seemed to reach out to the heavens for salvation. If Glynda was amused by that, she didn't give a single indication of it, meanwhile Pyrrha reached over and put a hand on Ruby's shoulder.

"Let's just… go…" she offered, trying to avoid humiliating the dog even further than his owner had just done in the most blunt way possible. She would sneak him some ham or something from dinner, since getting reminded of… that… sounded rather painful. Walking over to the poor little miserable ball of wet fur, she picked him up and started carrying him towards the waterfall. "We can make it back to the dorms in time to study a little before supper."

Ruby seemed to agree with that as she began leading the way towards the shower room, while Glynda just stared after the pair. Apparently there were college students that enjoyed studying for their classes; it was a rare find these days.

Giving the pair's retreating backs a smile; she settled down on one of the benches and enjoyed the dry sauna area that had been built in to the bath area. She had a meeting here in a few minutes, and it wouldn't do to be anything less than completely relaxed and ready.

After showering and getting dressed, the pair met up with Zwei who had dried off outside, watering the gardens in front of the baths while he was at it. The trio walked towards the dorms, the humans making idle conversation about their classes, while the dog bounced along happily. There still wasn't much of a crowd, so it was a very nice day for them to have a leisurely stroll through the quad.

All that ended when they made to the dorms, finding the lounge to house only Ren and Nora working on some project at a table, while Jaune was busy trying to win Mario Kart against a pair of girls that Ruby only knew as R. Lalonde, and A. Mizuno, a blonde girl with a somewhat sophisticated air and a rather muted blue haired girl with a studious feel about her respectively. They had rooms at the other end of the hall from her, and she didn't socialize that much.

Leaving that slaughter of Jaune's game playing ability aside for now, the pair made it up the stairs, where they faced something that sent chills down Ruby's spine. A foe so dastardly that there was no chance of either of them escaping. There, at the top of the stairs was a grinning, evil, vicious quandary known only to younger siblings the world around, the older sibling. Yang leaned against the doorframe, smirking at Ruby and Pyrrha, letting Zwei bounce past to the rooms where one could hear Weiss's squeal of joy.

"So… slip her the tongue?" Yang asked casually, giving them a knowing smirk.


End file.
